The men of Nineveh took the Lord seriously. They proclaimed a fast and held to it and asked everyone to do so, to repent and pray and sacrifice because they knew they were in the wrong. God did not destroy them.
We live in an age when we are destroying ourselves and destroying each other. With our words, with our deeds, with what we do, what we don’t do, and what we pretend is not our affair. We keep pushing away the reality that our world is in deep peril, steeped in pain, injustice, suffering, and yes, sin.
It is not the time to point fingers at others. It is time to get on our knees, and with one voice, pray. We need to ask the Prince of Peace to breathe on the whole world and send forth his Spirit so that we might know something of the peace God longs to give us.
Back in 2013, the new Pope Francis held a vigil for peace on Sept. 7. Leading up to it, he had asked Christians of the world to pray, even as the news cycle flooded our hearts with the promise of what seemed like inevitable war. He asked Catholics to pray the Rosary, and overnight, the threat of a real war in Lebanon evaporated. Statesmen and leaders participated in the follow-up, but the swiftness felt like God holding all of us in his hands, calming all the rage that threatened.
Now, we again face what feels like a fire that will never be quenched in places like Gaza. We should join with all who value life, who understand that peace requires greater effort than wrath or rage, and pray for all hurt, for all hurting, and for genuine peace that surpasses all understanding to come swiftly to the lands that so many call home.
The Pope has asked the laity to take a more active role in propelling forth the mission of the Church. We should shoulder this burden, and like the Holy Father’s namesake saint, seek to rebuild this broken Church, broken by scandal, neglect, indifference, sins and distractions of the world.
It will require us to be actual channels of God’s peace, putting hope where there is despair, light where there is darkness, and pardon where there is injury. It will demand that we begin on our knees, praying for all who rage against us, for all we feel justified in raging against, praying until we know we've poured out all that kept us from God’s grace, and from seeing our neighbors as God’s beloved. We live in Christ and know something greater than the prophet Jonah here, so we should do no less if we want the world to know how great is our God.