Tuesday, October 8, 2013

27th Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 09-10-13

Jonah 4:1-11 / Luke 11:1-4

We tend to associate the simple things with being easy to accomplish.

But simple is not synonymous with being easy, and when we think that it is a simple thing to do, then we may be surprised by how difficult it can turn out to be.

So simple exercises like body stretching and muscle toning may take only about 10 to 15 minutes, but we may have realized by now how much determination and discipline is required.

If we had been following the 1st reading for the past couple of days, then we will know that God told Jonah to do a very simple thing - to go to Nineveh and say that in 40 days, the city will be destroyed.

It sounded like such a simple task, but for Jonah, he had to run away, got thrown overboard, got swallowed by a big fish and stayed in its belly for three days.

And even after he had done what he was told, he sulked and was indignant and fell into a rage because God didn't punish the Ninevities or destroy Nineveh.

So a simple task turned out to be such a drama for Jonah. Yet in a way he brought it all upon himself; he could have avoided all that if he had simply followed instructions.

In the gospel, when His disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He gave them the prayer of the "Our Father".

It is a simple prayer but it does not mean that it will be an easy prayer. Sometimes we are careless with that prayer, we are not faithful to prayer, we doubt God even as we pray, we can't see the power of such a simple prayer.

A simple heart is also required for that simple prayer of the "Our Father". We just have to follow instructions, keep believing and keep praying.