Discernment: In today’s
first reading, Jonah 1: 1-2: 2, 11, we read about Jonah running away from the
Lord, who had commissioned him to go to Nineveh, to “preach against it” because
“their wickedness has come up before me.”
Jonah connects with a ship going to Tarshish in an effort to escape the
Lord’s will. A violent storm erupts and
the ship is about to sink. The crew is
frantic. Jonah is sound asleep in “the hold of the ship.” He knows why the storm has erupted and admits
to running from the Lord. To save
everyone, the crew tosses Jonah off the ship. Everything calms down. Jonah is
swallowed up by a whale for three days and three nights. At God’s commands, the whale coughs him up on
the shore of Nineveh! God’s will
prevails! We really do not escape carrying out God’s commands, though we may
certainly attempt to do so.
Part of discerning the will of God in our lives is learning
to listen to the turbulence, the discomfort, the tempests that rise up. There is a reason! When we are running away from the Lord like
Jonah had been, we do know why we run into stormy weather, so to speak. And, if we do not know, those around us do,
as did the crew. It simply calls for
honesty on our part and on the part of those involved in our lives at the time. Sometimes, however, a turbulence is simply a
turbulence and it is not connected to us being off course with our God any more
than Jesus was off course when he clashed with the Pharisees, the Sadducees and
teachers of His day. How did Jesus know? He knew because He and the Father were
of one heart, one mind, one soul and every day He conversed with His
Father. We, too, will know as Jesus knew
as we grow in intimacy with the Lord, taking time daily to commune with God our
Father.
