Reading 1
Jon 3:1-10
The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
"Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you."
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD's bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day's walk announcing,
"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small,
put on sackcloth.
When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:
"Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth
and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive,
and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish."
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 130:1b-2, 3-4ab, 7-8
R. (3) If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
R. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
R. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
Let Israel wait for the LORD,
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
R. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
Gospel
Lk 10:38-42
Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
The Lord said to her in reply,
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her."
Meditation: Luke 10:38-42
“Mary has chosen the better part.” (Luke 10:42)
What a perfect reading to have on this feast day of St. Francis of Assisi! If anyone chose “the better part” and lived in single-minded pursuit of the Lord, surely it was Francis!
Because his whole life was a constant song of praise to God, Francis earned the name “God’s Troubadour.” Faithful to the Scriptures’ exhortation to rejoice in the Lord always, he sang when robbers dumped him into a snow-filled ditch. As he walked through the Italian countryside, he would often improvise songs that delighted in God’s creation.
Whenever he entered a town, Francis would sing in the public square to attract people and then preach to them, urging them to love God above everything and repent of their sins. “Fear and honor, praise and bless, thank and adore the Lord God Almighty,” he would tell them. “Do not put off any longer confessing your sins… . Forgive and you will be forgiven.”
Speaking about the brothers who joined his new order, Francis once asked: “Since they are God’s troubadours and minstrels, is not the role of the Friars Minor to comfort their neighbor and move him to spiritual gladness?” One early Franciscan document declares that Francis sang all his life “as if his chief concern were to cultivate happiness within and scatter it around him.”
Francis had chosen the better part of honoring and praising the Lord with his whole heart. And he dedicated himself and his brothers to becoming living examples of the joy and peace that come from such a life. Even during the final months of his life, as he was suffering greatly, he said: “In spite of all that I endure, I feel so close to God that I cannot help singing.”
It’s no wonder that Francis was such a successful evangelist! His witness of joyful discipleship moved countless people to embrace the gospel that he preached.
Let’s all choose “the better part” today. Let’s decide to praise the Lord in all that we encounter, so that we too can spread the peace and joy of the gospel to everyone around us.
“Lord God: you alone are holy, you who work wonders! You are strong, you are great, you are the Most High, you are the almighty King, you, holy Father, King of heaven and earth.” (St. Francis’ “Praises of God”)
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