First Reading: Jonah 1:1-2:1,11

Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

 

Jonah had his entire life in order; he served the Lord, he was a prophet, a good man and he did much good. Yet he didn’t want to be disturbed in the way of life he had chosen; when he heard the word of God he sought to escape. He was fleeing from the Lord.

 

We, too, can be tempted to flee. We can run away from God, as a Christian, as a Catholic. We can all flee from God. This is a daily temptation: not to listen to God, not to hear his voice, not to hear his promptings, his invitation in our hearts.

 

The Gospel passage from St Luke tells of a certain man, half dead, who had been thrown into the street. Now by chance a priest was going down that road. He didn't hear the voice of God there. Then a Levite passed by. The only a man who habitually fled from God, a sinner, the Samaritan, was the very one who perceived the voice of God. 

 

And why did Jonah flee from God? Why did the Levite flee from God? Because their hearts were closed. When our heart is closed we cannot hear the voice of God. Jonah had a plan for his life: he wanted to write his own history well, according to God’s ways. But he was the one writing it, the same with the Levite. 

 

Do we allow God to write the history of our lives or do we want to write it? This speaks to us of docility: are we docile to the Word of God? Are we able to find the Word of God in the history of each day, or your ideas so govern you that you do not allow the Lord to surprise you and speak?