Nineveh

The word of the LORD came to Jonah, saying:

"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 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.

To say that Nineveh was a great city would be to damn it with faint praise.  Our author states that it took three days to go through the city.  Modern excavations of where Nineveh used to be, right across the river from modern-day Mosul, has been described as being a rectangular city more or less seven and a half miles on a side, which would mean it would contain an area of about fifty-six square miles. While Nineveh was certainly a large city, to put it in perspective, New York City occupies three-hundred and six square miles.Nineveh had all of the things a capital city should have including fortress-like walls, moats, and defensive parapets, along with a water system that piped water from the mountains into the city. All in all, it was quite an impressive place, a fitting home for the empire that had conquered much of the known world, including Egypt.  

Let's talk about Jonah for a moment. He was a prophet of Yahweh, a reluctant one when it came to his mission to the Ninevites.  Recall how when God first called Him he said that he would not go and left town on the first boat out.  Well, there came a terrible storm and the sailors received word that if the threw Jonah off of the boat, the storm would end.  At first, they refused to do this. But as the storm raged, in fear for their lives, over the side went our hero, Johah, who was picked up by a whale (although we assume that he was swallowed by a whale, the word used in the original language simply means "big fish) and while rescued from the sea, he had to spend three days in the stomach of this whale.  That must have been somewhat unpleasant. The fish regurgitated him and spat him out onto land and Jonah decided to do what God instructed him to do.    

So Jonah arrives at the large, glittering city which was full of wonders and wealth.  He goes up one street and then another announcing that in forty days Nineveh would be destroyed by God. Jonah was less than enthusiastic about the whole thing but after the first day the king had heard of Jonah's proclamation and believed and a fast is proclaimed, everyone, from the greatest to the youngest participates and all don sackcloth, which is roughly woven cloth made out of either hemp, if you are lucky, or goat hair, if you are not.  It was used as a sign of submission and repentance by the ancients.  God saw how the Ninevites repented of their sin and He decided not to destroy them.  This ticked Jonah off to no end. But you can read the Bible to see what happened next for yourself.  Jonah is often thought of as a sort of Jesus because he was rejected by the people (thrown off the ship) and was buried, (spending three days in the whale's belly) and then rising again when the fish deposited him without much ceremony on dry land. 

Can you imagine a disheveled man, smelling of fish, coming to your town today, thumping and waving his Bible wildly as he shouted that your city would be destroyed in forty days, what kind of reception he would get? He would be ignored and mocked. Is it possible that God has sent his prophets into modern cities?  I don't know but what I do know is that our modern society should really take a look at what happened to the rich, beautiful, fortress town of Nineveh.  It is being excavated by archeologists.  The town and the empire that it represented eventually fell, conquered by others, sacked and the treasure it contained was packed up and carted away to another great city with another great king with an invincible army.  We know this because we are excavating that city too! 

Nothing is forever on this globe we call home.  Great nations and empires come and go.  Some last longer than others, but eventually they come to an end.  So the next time you hear somebody who suggests that you repent, why not do the safe thing and examine your conscience and repent of the things that draw you away from God.  None of us are perfect and God has given us the sacrament of confession to make sure that He and we always remain the closest of friends. 

The thought that everyone we know who has passed away has gone to heaven is very comforting for us.  We loved these people when they lived and do not want to think about them suffering after death.  Some of us do go to Purgatory and once there, we can only be helped by the intercessory prayer of others. Don't limit your love to the graveside, extend it and pray for those you have lost to death by name. If they are already in heaven, your prayers will be applied to another soul and they will be forever grateful.  Below is a prayer that can rescue many souls at once, say this prayer once a day at least. 

According to tradition, St. Gertrude the Great was told by Our Lord that the following prayer, each time she piously recited it, would release 1,000 souls (or a vast number) from their suffering in purgatory:

“Eternal Father,
I offer You the most precious blood
of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen.”