Jonah 3:1-10 / Luke 10:38-42
It's one thing to know that we have a bad habit, or an addiction, but yet it is another thing to kick it out or to change our habits.
One simple example is watching TV.
We can get into the habit of just sitting in front of the TV and let time fly, and slowly it becomes an addiction.
And short of throwing away the TV, we might find it real difficult to kick this bad habit or the addiction of wasting time and watching rubbish.
So what is the key to change, to conversion, to repentance?
Relying simply on will-power might be out of the question, because we know how often will-power has failed us when it comes to an addiction.
But yet the key is also in the will-power.
The will-power must be empowered by the truth; only then can the will-power respond to the call for conversion and repentance.
The people of Nineveh repented because they heard the truth from Jonah, and they responded.
That is also what Jesus is highlighting in today's gospel.
The one thing needed and which is necessary is to listen - to listen to the truth and to be open to it.
Listening to the truth and being open to it is what is needed if we are to respond to God's call to conversion and repentance.
May our hearts be opened to that truth.