The Sign of Jonah: A Sign to Prompt Conversion from Sin to Grace - Wednesday of the First Week of Lent

Have you heard of the word of God for conversion? 

Your answer should be "Yes" because you sure listened to God's calling for conversion through the First Reading of Ash Wednesday (Joel 2:12-18) to have begun your Lenten journey.

An important theme reflected in the Scripture Readings of Wednesday of the First Week of Lent (Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 11:29-32) is a conversion of heart. 

Lenten season is a penitential period of conversion – turning away from sins to God, taking the “road less traveled” with challenges of purification rather than a popular road of pleasures. Why so? It is because the former leads to eternal life and the Kingdom, while the latter ends with death through self-destructive addiction. This was a theme discerned from the First Reading of Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Deuteronomy 30:15-20).

The Gospel Reading (Luke 11:29-32) reminds us that seeking miraculous sings is futile unless our hearts are converted from sinfulness to the state of grace.

To teach this, Jesus said to the growing crowd:

This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29).

Why did Jesus say that no sign, except for the sign of Jonah, is given to those who seek it? What did Jesus mean by “the sign of Jonah”?

As described in the First Reading (Jonah 3:1-10), the sign of Jonah means conversion from sin to the righteousness of the people in Nineveh. The conversion of Nineveh is like replacing gambling and prostitution parlors with churches and chapels in Las Vegas, which is nicknamed a “sin city”.

Before he went to Nineveh to convert this ancient “sin city” of Nineveh, Jonah himself went through his own conversion. When the word of God first came to him to serve Him to call the people of Nineveh to repent and convert so that they would be spared from God’s punishment, Jonah rejected and defied God’s will (Jonah 1:1-3).

To this sin of Jonah, God chastised him, and he learned a lesson as he became obedient to God, converting from being disobedient (Johan 1:4-2:11).  This is why Jonah faithfully responded to the word of God when it was sent to him a second time (Jonah 3:1-3).

So Jonah came to Nineveh and first warned the people of this sinful city that God would destroy the city in 40 days unless they repent their sins and convert (Jonah 3:4). And they turned away from sins and repented and turned their hearts to God, believing in Him, even the king of Nineveh (Jonah 3:5-10). Ashes and sackcloth symbolized their repentance, their contrite hearts (Jonah 3:5-6).  This is what Jesus means by the sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29).

The sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29) is what makes sinners repent and convert. In order to convert our hearts from a life of sin to a life of grace, we first need to acknowledge our own sinfulness and repent, seeking God’s mercy and grace. For this reason, the first thing in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola is acknowledging our own sinfulness, so that we can align our heart's desire to God's will. This is also why we always acknowledge our sinfulness and seek God’s mercy as we begin Mass. Without contrition and conversion, unless being in the state of grace, the Word of God in the Liturgy of the Word and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass shall not be given – as Jesus said that no signs should be given to the wicked except for the sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29).

God gave Nineveh 40 days to convert (Johan 3:4). And God gives us 40 days to convert.

Conversion begins with a humble acknowledgment of our own sinfulness. This is why Jesus said, “You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye” (Luke 6:42), recalling from the Gospel Reading of the 8^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Luke 6:39-45), to be aware of what compromises our spiritual vision, an obstacle to faith, in order to remove it. Removing such an obstacle is a process of conversion.

First, we need to reflect on the sign of Jonah in order to be worthy to receive the signs of Jesus. 

Let us repent and convert through the Word of God rather than being thrown into the sea and sucked into the stomach of big fish, like Jonah! Fish is not what we are swallowed by but what we eat on Lenten Fridays. 

Gran Pescado de Jonas para pecadores obstinados...  pescados para pecadores de conrazon contrio en todos los viernes de Cuaresma.