Homily for Wednesday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time

For daily readings, see http://www.usccb.org/nab/101007.shtml

God had made a false prophet out of Jonah, and so Jonah was angry. Jonah was told to go and tell the city of Ninevah that a God he knew to be merciful would be unmerciful, and that the city of 120,000 would be destroyed in 40 days. So Jonah was angry that God forced him, against his will and better judgment, to prophesy to Ninevah, and then doubly crossed Jonah by not carrying out the evil that He had threatened. Jonah believed that He had reason to be angry, angry enough to die.

It is hard enough to be a prophet and to live a counter-cultural life in faithful witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is harder, probably, to do so without concern with how God chooses to use our prophetic service. Without cost we have received, without cost we are to give. Our service to God is not based on our control of the outcome; it is a response to divine love. Jesus says to us today in the Eucharist: I have handed over to you everything that I have received from my Father. We are to say to God, however He uses our service, the same thing at the end of our service. We are unprofitable servants; we have only done what we were obliged to do.