Wednesday of the First Week of Lent
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Jonah 3:1-10
In today’s first reading,
the Lord sends his messenger Jonah to the city of Nineveh to turn the people
away from the evil way. With a strong messaging, Jonah convinced the people of
Nineveh to change their ways. While reading this piece, I could not help but
think that no human is perfect and sinless.
The Bible teaches us that
the temptation is everywhere. Eve could not resist the temptation and she
listened to the Snake (Lucifer) and ate the forbidden fruit. She later
convinced Adam to eat it too. Although there were consequences for their acts,
generations later did not learn from Adam and Eve’s mistake. The temptation
grew and as the reading indicates, the whole city of Nineveh was filled with
greed and lust.
When people finally
decided to change, they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth as a sign of
regret and submission. The purpose of this was inner purification and
enlightenment. "Every man shall turn from his evil way and from the
violence he has in hand”. When God witnessed their determination to change from
their previous way of thinking, evil thoughts, and doings, He postponed the
punishment they were threatened with.
Every human being
struggles with resisting temptation at some point of our lives. When we cannot
resist the temptation, God will be there for us, to show us the right way. God
will be there to give us a second chance. It is, of course, our part to
understand that we must deserve the second chance, we must acknowledge our
mistakes, we must repent and learn to forgive ourselves. By learning how to
forgive ourselves, we will learn how to forgive others. This is the key to
one’s pursuit of a profound life.
Excellent reading for today. Forgiving ourselves becomes possible when we receive confession ,and that is our unique blessing.
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