Only forty days more and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.

3rd Sunday of Ordinary time 2024

Jonah 3:1-5,10; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20;

God, having seen the wickedness of the inhabitants of Nineveh sent Jonah to warn them of the impending punishment for its evil conduct. ‘Only forty days more and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.’

What would you do if a saint warned us that Canada had 40 days before it was destroyed? That because of the wickedness of Canada, the killing of the innocent unborn, the vulnerable sick and elderly and the widespread sexual perversion and extensive political corruption God will judge Canada and all its inhabitants? Just leave might be your answer, as it would be the answer of the 35 million others, but do you think you can escape from God’s judgement?

And so it was for Nineveh. Being warned by Jonah they repented. “And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least.” The King said, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

“God saw their efforts to renounce their evil behaviour. And God relented: he did not inflict on them the disaster which he had threatened.” The punishment of sin is hell. We have been warned many times. If, like the people of Nineveh, we try to change God seeing our efforts relents and has compassion.

In today's gospel Christ takes up Jonah’s warning “Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. ‘The time has come’ he said ‘and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.’” God now invites us to prepare for heaven by repenting from our wickedness, as Jonah warned the people of Nineveh. After telling people to repent he then invites them to follow Him. ‘Jesus said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."’

The Christ of Furelos. In the church of St John (San Juan) of Furelos in Galicia (Spain) you will find a crucifix where Our Lord's right hand is no longer attached to the cross but is stretched out. Long ago there was a young man from Melide used to go to confess in that village church of San Juan. This young man had a vice which he kept falling into. The priest gave him absolution and kept reminding him how divine mercy could operate when the repentance of the sinner was sincere and was accompanied by the proposition never to fall into that sin again. Despite the sincerity of his intentions, the young man frequently fell and frequently returned to confess the same sin and to receive forgiveness for the same sin. The priest one day ran out of patience and said that he would not give him absolution any more if he returned to him with that same sin. The young man was weak and fell again into the same sin and again appeared before the confessional of the priest of Furelos. The priest reminded him of what he had said last time and sent him away without absolution and told him to not come back. The man started to leave, dejected, and passed in front of the Crucifix in the side chapel, staring at it with a child-like gaze of sorrow, as if to invoke its pity and mercy. As the priest left the confessional, and the penitent was turning to leave, the silence of the church was broken by these words:

"I gave my life for this son of mine, so if you don't want to absolve him, I will absolve him!" The voice came from the crucifix placed in the side altar, which immediately moved. The right arm detached itself from the wood to which it was nailed and lowered itself on the head of the penitent, imparting the blessing with the sign of the Cross, accompanied by these words: "I who died and rose for you also absolve you from your sin, in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Spirit."

Since then the Christ of Furelos has welcomed local penitents and pilgrims alike.

Just as baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn, the sacrament of penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after baptism. Through this sacrament, the baptised can be reconciled with God and with the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of penance, as “He [Christ] breathed on them [the apostles] and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”” Jn 20:22-23.

All mortal sins of which penitents are conscious must be recounted in confession in number and type. The Church commands that each of the faithful, after attaining the age of discretion, is bound to faithfully confess serious sins at least once a year. Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion without first receiving sacramental absolution.