Dear friends in Christ, today we celebrate the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary , and our readings highlight three beautiful 'P' w...
Dear friends in Christ, today we celebrate the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, and our readings highlight three beautiful 'P' words that connect all of them: Preaching, Penitence, and Prayer.
In the First Reading, the reluctant prophet Jonah finally does as he is told. He walks into the massive city of Nineveh and starts preaching a stark message: repent or be destroyed. It was a short, sharp message, yet the people—from the greatest to the least, including the King—believed God. This shows us the power of simply speaking God's truth, even when we feel unqualified. Our lives, too, are a continuous form of preaching the Gospel.
The immediate response of the Ninevites was a total turning around: they proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloth, and cried out to God. This is the perfect picture of genuine penitence—a change of heart so profound that it changed the city's fate. They turned from their evil ways, and God relented. Penitence is our constant act of acknowledging our sin and turning back to God's merciful love.
Finally, the Gospel gives us the ideal posture for both preaching and penitence: prayer. Jesus is visiting Martha and Mary. Martha is busy in service; Mary sits at the Lord's feet, listening. Jesus says, "Mary has chosen the better part." The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary echoes this, for the Rosary is the quintessential form of meditative prayer, asking us to sit at Mary’s side to contemplate the mysteries of Christ. We must choose the "better part" first, anchoring our busy lives in prayer, so that our preaching has power and our penitence is sincere.
May Our Lady of the Rosary teach us to live a life devoted to prayer so that we may genuinely preach God's word and constantly practice heartfelt penitence. Amen.
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