MIND RENEWED BY THE WORD

Wednesday, first Week of Lent/ 2024
Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

Theme: Minds renewed by the Word

God sent his word to the Ninevites. It achieved the divine purpose in their lives. Just as the passage from Isaiah we read yesterday, the word of God is like the rain that falls on the earth. The condition of the soul that receives the word determines the effect of the word. The Ninevites allowed the word of God they heard to change their disposition for good. “And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The news reached the king of Nineveh, who rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes.” Their cooperation with the word of God sent to them won the people of Ninevites God’s compassion and mercy. He forgave their sins and spared them from the disaster that could have befallen them due to their sinful lifestyle. The Church proposed this condition of mind to all her children on Ash Wednesday; we were admonished to descend from our throne of ego and self-centredness to sit in ashes of repentance. Our sitting in ashes may not be physical, but spiritual and psychological, which is very effective as coming from a contrite heart. We decided to internalize this contrite heart by consciously repeating a Lenten mantra: ‘You are dust unto dust shall you return.’ The story of Nineveh demonstrates the efficacy of this mantra, the corresponding deep contrition that it produces, and the grace of God it attracts. 

Our Lord confirms the truth of this penitential procedure by his reference to the story of Nineveh and consolidates it by his divine authority. The word of God is not sent to us through a prophet or a man, but through the Eternal Word of God himself by his incarnation in human flesh. If the Ninevites believed the word spoken by a mere man as the word of God, what prevents us from believing the preaching of the Son of God in our nature? If obedience to the word of God spoken by Jonah brought God’s compassion and mercy, what infinite compassion and mercy would come upon us when we act on the Lord’s call to repentance? “On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.” To receive this largesse of divine mercy and compassion, we must continue and deepen our compunction by praying our mantra of self-emptying and contrition very often during the day and in the night; that the Lord will hear and attend to our prayer is as sure as the day that follows the night. Let our constant sacrifice to him be a humbled, contrite heart, which he will never refuse nor spurn.

Let us pray: Open our hearts, Lord, to the presence of your Son, Jesus Christ, to accept the forgiveness and redemption he offers us in abundance.

 

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