The Lord Says

The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me." But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.

-Jonah 1:1-4

While I was reading this part of Jonah's account, I remembered how life seems to be this way for us. Remember when God calls us to do one of His works and we opted to not act on it. The end result would sometimes be emptiness or loneliness. Like something wonderful or amazing was withdrawn from us.

Today, we might not see the water rise against us or the rain falls so hard on our heads or the sun dries our very land. But truly the Lord is still doing the same thing as what He did with Jonah when he chose to not do God's will. That emptiness and that loneliness is God's heavy storm, huge rain or dried land.

But as Fr. Delos Reyes, S.J puts it in His homily today, "God loves us even more when we commit mistakes." It's because of God's mercy and love that when Jonah repented to God, he was forgiven. Jonah then, accepted his task and continue to do God's works.

When God calls us for a task, be willing and accept. For the Lord will always equip the unequipped.

God bless!