Jonah

Have you ever actually read the story of Jonah in the Old Testament? It is quite an amazing little 2 page book. I am about to teach on Jonah for today's Children's Catechumenate class. This is the class for those kids over the age of seven who desire to be baptized & children who have no previous Religious Education.

Jonah is a great role model for them and each of us. No one of us is comfortable with telling others about the sins in their lives. However, if we truly have fallen in love with the Living God who has created us, then like Jonah it sure makes it a lot easier to go out and tell the world about God's love for every creature.

If one goes back and even looks at the story of the Old Testament, as a whole, it is interesting to see just how much the God who created mankind has shown His mercy throughout the history of the world. We humans always seem to think we know what is best over and above the Living God who created the entire world - myself included. If only we could abandon ourselves to the love of God the Father who reveals for us, as a loving parent, all that we need to do to truly have a life filled with joy! The Eternal God never stopped inviting His people to accept this revelation. Yet even today we place many things above God.

Jonah is a great role model for us to think about all the things we do that show us not to be childlike before the one True God. Rather, those things reveal, like Jonah, that we think we know much better how things should be run in the universe. Let no one of us be so filled with pride as to never consider there is a God, and he is neither you nor I!

Moreover, Jonah reminds us that God really does care for you and I and every living being on the face of our planet. God was not happy having merely a people called the Jews, but He sought to save all that was lost through the sin of Adam & Eve.