Homily for Monday
27th Week of Ordinary Time
Oct. 6, 2025
Jonah 1: 1—2: 1-2, 11
Salesian HS, New Rochelle, N.Y.
This week we’ll read most of the book of Jonah today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. It’s one of the shortest books of the Old Testament; you read it all in about 15 minutes. It’s a parable like the stories that Jesus tells, e.g., our gospel reading this morning (Luke 10:25-37, the Good Samaritan), only longer.
Jonah
is a parable about God’s mercy, altho that’s not evident from its 1st chapter,
which we heard today.
You’ve
heard the saying, “You can run, but you can’t hide.” That seems to have originated with
heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis in the 1940s, referring to his opponents in
the boxing ring. Law enforcement
officers have picked it up to warn criminals they’re pursuing.
And
that’s what’s happening in ch. 1 of Jonah.
He’s trying to run away far away from the Lord and the mission of mercy
that God wants him to carry out. But God
pursues him dramatically, and Jonah will have no peace until he follows God’s
plan.
Don
Bosco always reminded young people that God sees them at every moment. God even knows what we’re thinking. And he has a plan for each of us. If we want to be at peace and be happy, that
will follow from our seeking to know what God wants of us, what his personal
plan is for us, and not running from that plan but trying to follow it. Otherwise, our lives might become stormy
rather than peaceful—altho God won’t likely send a large fish to swallow us up
and spit us out.
Something
St. Augustine wrote over 1,700 years ago is fitting here. He wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O
Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Deep within us, we want God and his intention
for each of us.
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