Jonah 4:1-11 / Luke 11:1-4
For a Christian, prayer is an essential aspect of life.
Because prayer is not just something that we do.
Prayer is also more that just a form of communication with God.
Prayer is being with God, to know who God is, and to know who we are.
In the 1st reading, Jonah prayed to the Lord and he said that he knew that God is a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, relenting from evil.
And that was why he ran away from God and didn’t want to go to Nineveh as God told him to. That is what Jonah claimed to be the reason.
But as much as Jonah said he knew what God is like, he may not know who God really is.
With the growth and withering of the castor-oil plant, and with the scorching wind and sun, God showed Jonah who He really is.
God showed that He is compassionate and that He is the source of life and love.
He felt sorry for the people of Nineveh when they repented and He didn’t inflict the punishment that He asked Jonah to proclaim.
Whenever we pray, and especially when we pray the Lord’s prayer, may we come to know who God is.
And when we know what God is like, we will want to be like God. That is the fruit of prayer.