“Stand up and go to Nineveh, the great city. I have come to know of her grave sin so go and preach against it” (1:1) “Again God said to Jonah: “Stand up and go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to them the message I am going to give you” (3:1).
God’s plan for every people is of mercy and compassion. But ordinarily he needs messengers to convey it, so that at the end it is God’s generosity, the deliverer’s obedience and the interested person’s adherence to the message that bring about the miracle of God’s plan.
“ In many times and in different ways God has spoken to his people”(Heb 1:1)Our God is a relational God. From eternity he proffers the Word, so much so that besides being the Father and Source of all, he has manifested himself to us as the Word that has always been, even before the foundation of the world, and ever will be. In fact, it is through this Word that he has created the world, he has redeemed it and now he is preserving it. Starting a dialogue is sharing of one self’s identity and plans. Only one who is self confident and at peace with oneself can start it, accept the risks of being refused and rejected, and find always new ways to engage the other part on a constructive and productive way. That is why the above quote from Hebrews conclude saying: “and in these latter days he spoke to us through his SON,” the eternal Word of God, Jesus, the Christ.
But Jesus also when he started proclaiming the “good news” he chose twelve Apostles that could stay with him and he could send them in the villages ahead of him. But he also gave all his followers the mandate to “go and teach” to all creatures. So every Christian shares of Christ’s prophetic mission. We are invested with this mission the very day of our baptism, strengthened in it with our confirmation and at then end of each Eucharistic celebration we are dismissed with the notification: “Enter in peace!” (meaning: Go and be a messenger of God’s peace. Peace being Christ’s message in one single word ).
Christ today does not have feet to go and reach places that need to hear the message but our feet
He does not have a mouth to proclaim God’s mercy but our mouth.
St. Paul was well aware of this urgency of bringing the Gospel to the four corners of the globe, and so he proclaimed: “Woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel!”

Unfortunately, each of us is aware how much of a Jonah is hiding in us. We have always good and plenty of excuses not to act on our prophetic task. Traveling the 1200 miles westward to Tharshis rather than the 500 miles eastward to Nineveh seem easier, likewise, the circumstances to a trip away from our mission may look more favorable. But our God is also a relentless God, he doe not let us go that easily. If he has determined to let us have a specific mission, no one else will be able to take it away from us. If others look they are doing exactly the same thing we wee supposed to do, they are not replacing us, they are doing their portion, nor ours. He will turn things upside down until we perform our mission, only that this time we will be unwilling instruments in his hands, and therefore not deserving the reward of a prophet.

Likewise, each of us is aware how sincere and disinterested we are (or are not)in our prophetic mission. Had the Ninevites refused Jonah’s message their city would have been destroyed and Jonah would have been proved to be a true messenger of God. But since nothing dramatic really happened, now one knows for sure whether it was because the people had converted or because Jonah was just an impostor. The story does not tell us of Jonah being given any special recognition for his mission. Even God did not reward him immediately with the shade of the evergreen, rather reprimanded him. Being a prophet is not an easy task.

Even worse, being a prophet of doom is less palatable than being carriers of a message of hope and resurrection. But the goal is always the same, it is proclaiming God’s mercy and compassion. We cannot choose where or when to obey nor what message to announce in our mission: “The Holy Spirit will give words to respond” to the circumstances. But this requires that we are tuned up to the Holy Spirit’s frequency. And that is the real reason for our reluctance in our mission. Our first mission field is ourselves: We cannot proclaim what we have not heard of or adhered to. So reading the word of God in the Bible, in the teachings of the church and in the daily events of our life is the first way to being prophets in our own home. The second field we can be sure we are being sent to is our family, work place and our neighborhood. And this is even more difficult than it may appear, Jesus himself testified it: “No one is a prophet in his own country…” The reason being very simple: people often looks at the message carrier than at the message itself. And the messenger’s weaknesses are often more visible than his/her merits. And therefore he is looked at with suspicion. “Medice, cura te ipsum. Doctor, heal yourself first” Being a prophet then demands a good amount of awareness of one’s worth, and coherence in one’s life. Again, not an easy task, nor it was meant to be. Had it been easy,we would not have needed the book of Jonah.

If at the end of these three days of fasting, intercession and meditation we will come to the decision of Isaiah, who offered himself: “Here I am, send me!” and live up to our mission, we will have reaped the first fruit our fasting.