Luke 11: 29-32 The Sign of Jonah

How many of us look for a sign of the Lord's intervention in our life.  How easily we could be these in the "evil generation looking for a sign, but none will be given except that of Jonah."  Jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish.  It was a foreshadowing of the three days that Christ would spend in the belly of the earth before his Resurrection.

We are invited like the people of Nineveh to repent because we are warned of the coming of the wrath of God to those who are not humbled, that through the Lords mercy on those who love him, we may be saved.  And how?  Through the saving act of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Resurrection on the third day.  We are called in our Lenten journey to repent, to sacrifice, to be humbled, that we may allow God to resume his rightful place in our hearts; that we allow his will to be done over our own.  In his love and mercy, he will forgive us.  Remember Christ Jesus taught us the prayer that gives us hope in this. 

Mark 1: 14-20 Repent and Believe

Jesus comes to us with the call, "This is the time of fulfillment.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the Gospel."  We are like the barren desert, dry, parched, waiting for the promise of water which will renew us.  Jesus comes today to fulfill that promise.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  He is the fulfillment of that hope of water come to bring drink to the thirsty.  Real repentance is possible.  If we follow Jesus the Christ, we can become more than we could ever imagine.  That barrenness within us has been filled.  We are filled with a Presence and new life, we become the true Presence for which we were made.  It is not just for the Apostles, but for each of us.  He is calling, "Come after me..."