WOYWW: The Sign of Jonah

 I have been hard at work with my canvases

for an annual Art Fair,

Art in the Park.

Sometimes I do not know when

a painting is finished!

I thought this one was finished,

but only because I was super sleepy!

Here is my planner for the week February 16-22.

My aunt died on Tuesday!

She was 98 years old, so we were happy she could rest!

She wanted to live till 100, but it was just too much for her!

"The only sign I will give them is the sign of Jonah." Luke 11:29

Trying to test Jesus, the crowd asked Jesus for a miraculous sign from heaven, and Jesus replied that the only sign He would give them was the sign of the prophet Jonah. The sign of Jonah is the sign of repentance.

I was quite impressed with Angelina Jolie's movie "Unbroken". It is the true story of Louis Zamperini, an American prisoner of war, who survived horrible maltreatment at the hands of sadistic captors. During his 47 day ordeal at sea before he was captured by the Japanese, Louis vowed that if God would save them, he would devote his life to serving Him.

He forgot about this prayer, especially during his harrowing captivity, but remembered it when he and his wife joined a Billy Graham Crusade. After Louis accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, he suddenly had respite from years of having nightly nightmares about strangling the "Bird", his especially sadistic and violent torturer. "It was a miracle!" he said.

 In 1950, he went to Japan, and embraced and forgave some of the guards from his prison camp. Some even became Christians. In 1998, he attempted to meet with the "Bird", but Mutsuhiro Watanabe refused to see him.

How sad that Watanabe could not see God's gracious sign of forgiveness and His calling His son to return to Him and repent! No matter how black our heart is, no matter what evil we have done, God is ready and willing to accept us if we repent. Are there any signs we are missing? Or perhaps we need to be God's sign to someone badly in need of God's healing presence?

 This is what was written in pencil on my Bible. I don't know from where I copied it, except for the last part:

The “Our Father” was a secret prayer. The first Christians were taught this only after years of learning and baptism.

“OUR Father in heaven…” shows necessity for us to be missionaries, with the goal that God would be known to all. By saying “ABBA Father” Jesus shows that prayer is a disposition of the heart, not just a matter of the right words. Thus the Lord’s prayer is based upon an intimate relationship with God. Similar to the 18 benedictions and the Kaddish of synagogue liturgy, to which He added addressing God as Father. This suggested a childlike trust, intimacy and readiness of access. (The Eighteen Benedictions are praises and petitions directed to God that ask for wisdom, forgiveness of sins, help in times of trouble and so on. The Kaddish asks that God’s name be hallowed and glorified throughout the world, and that God may soon establish his Kingdom in its fullness.)

“Hallowed be thy Name..” May Your Name be known on this earth. Reveal the holiness of Your Name so it may be respected and revered by all. Make known Your greatness, that all praise Your majesty!

“May Your Kingdom come…” Let it come now Father! Let Your will be done in our lives. Show us Your will. Give us the zeal to accomplish it here on earth. ,as it is in Heaven. Father, free us from selfishness, fear, worry, and sorrow, and let the joy of Your Kingdom come into our hearts.

“Give us this day our daily bread…” Father, the storehouses of heaven are Yours. Open them to us, and pour out to us the treasures of Your wisdom, knowledge, courage, and patience, self-control and love. We hunger and thirst for you- feed us with the Bread of Life, Your Son, Jesus. Fill us with His presence and power, His healing and compassion. Nourish and sustain Your life in us today.

“Forgive us our trespasses…” Forgive us our unbelief, our grumbling, and our fear. Cancel the debt we’ve amassed through our lack of discipline and restraint, and through our bitterness, resentment and disregard for others. Father, You make all things new: Make our hearts and minds new! Not just ours, but all on the face of the earth! Help us to forgive those who have hurt us as completely as we want You to forgive us.

‘Jesus gave us a prayer which in its simplicity contrasts sharply with many of the very fulsome formulations used in Jewish and Greco-Roman prayers of His day. Despite its brevity, Tertullan called the Lord’s Prayer “truly a summary of the whole Gospel”- the expression of our chief beliefs, as the first disciples had wanted. In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired.’ (Cathechism of the Catholic Church, n 2763, citing Thomas Aquinas)

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Blessings!

Patsy