Wednesday, March 9 : Saint Peter Chrysologus

The whole history of Jonah shows him to us as the perfect prefiguration of our Savior (…) Jonah went down to Joppa to board a ship for Tarsis (…); Our Lord came down from heaven to earth, divinity came down to humanity, majestic power to our lowliness (…), to board the ship of his Church (…) It was Jonah himself who made the decision to have himself thrown into the sea: “Pick me up and throw me into the sea”; thus he announced the Lord’s freely willed Passion. When the salvation of a great many depends on the death of one then that death is in the hands of that man who can freely withhold or, alternatively, hasten it to forestall the danger. The whole mystery of the Lord is prefigured here. Death is no necessity for him; it results from his free choice. Hear him: «I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it up again: no one takes it from me» (Jn 10:18) (…) See the great fish, a horrible and cruel image of hell. As it devours the prophet it feels the strength of the Creator (…) and fearfully offers the resting place of its belly to this traveller from on high (…) And after three days (…) it returns him to the light to give him to the pagans (…) Such is the sign, the only sign, Christ consented to give the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 12:39) so as to make them understand that the glory they themselves hoped for from Christ would also be turned towards the gentiles: the Ninevites are the symbol of the nations who believed in him (…) O my brethren, what happiness this is for us ! What was foretold and promised in symbol we venerate, see and possess face to face in all truth.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team