Today's Thoughts...

​Today’s Thoughts: In our readings today, from the Book of the Prophet Jonah (Jon 4:1-11) and Luke’s Gospel today (Luke 11:1-4) we find two interesting scenes.
 
On the one hand we find Jonah struggling with God’s mercy and on the other we have Jesus teaching the disciples to pray by focusing on God a father.
 
Jonah wants punishment. He wants the Ninevites to pay for their sinfulness. He does not like the fact that they have repented, and that God is offering them mercy. But God opens Jonah’s eyes to the fact that everything we have is gift and that God is concerned about all of his creation. God is a relentless God. Jonah found that out. God doesn’t want to lose any of his creation.
 
In our Gospel today Jesus reminds the disciples of just how present the Father is to their life. For me an interesting aspect of Jesus’ teaching of the Our Father is that Jesus uses the word, Abba, which if translated literally would be “daddy or dad.” I sometimes wish that the first translators of the prayer had used the informal rather than the formal it might have made a difference in how we think about this simple prayer today. It might have made the prayer more intimate!
 
Our God, Our Father, Our Abba is relentless providing for, watching over and offering mercy when we pause to reflect on our sinfulness and our struggles. Pausing as we begin, end and live our day to address our Dad with thankfulness and trust will always keep us going in the right direction!
 
Have a great Wednesday everyone!