Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

In the notoriously corrupt city of Nineveh, people believed the prophet Jonah’s warning from God to repent or perish. Centuries later, God sent Jesus as the key to salvation, but scribes and Pharisees blocked the doorway as they challenged His wisdom. Jesus started small, calling the Twelve Apostles. He later sent 72 missionaries in pairs to proclaim the Kingdom of God at hand and cure the sick in His name. God forgives sins, except when a person “blasphemes against the Holy Spirit” by refusing without regret to accept His mercy. Persecutions did not stop after Jesus, but a once ruthless Pharisee named Saul became the “Apostle to the Gentiles.” Known now as Saint Paul, he taught that faith and love count above all else. When asking God for what we want, do our requests have love as the key reason?