October 6, 2025 // Optional Memorial of Saint Bruno, Priest // Optional Memorial of Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher, Virgin [In the Dioceses of the United States]
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Jonah 1:1–2:1-2, 11
Reflect on the Word //
The pain was searing, striking in the darkness of night. A shrieking in my back, hips, and legs. I rolled over. Then I sat up. Then I tried a walk down the hall. Nothing helped. I bent over the kitchen sink thinking I might be sick. I nearly woke my husband to take me to the ER, but I didn’t want him to see me crying.
I was caught completely unprepared. In all of the appointments I had—with doctors and nurses and technicians—no one ever mentioned bone pain as a side effect of the chemotherapy treatment I’d undertaken. And now here I was, in tears, frightened, wondering how much more I could stand.
They say that your first round of chemo tells you what your next round will be like, only it will be a little worse. And a little worse the time after that, and so on, ramping up each treatment. After my first round I wondered if I could manage any more. Oh, how I wanted to run.
Jesus tells us the three days and nights Jonah spent in the belly of the fish (see Jonah 1:17) was a prefiguring of His own three days in the tomb (see Matthew 12:40). Sometimes, I think the Lord allows us a little taste of the belly of the fish to whet our appetite for resurrection and redemption, to stir our longing for the might and sheer, glorious power of all He can do: to bring life from death.
But I can tell you, it stinks in there. It’s dark and painful and feels mighty hopeless.
Still, the fish spit Jonah out, the stone was rolled away from the tomb, and I got through chemo with a greater determination to serve the Lord and to embrace His call, even when that means utter darkness.
When we find ourselves in “fish-belly” seasons, when it feels really dark and hopeless, let’s remember, we are fundamentally Easter people, created for new life, eternal life, and the joy that only life in Christ can bring.
Relate to the Lord // Read and pray with the book of Jonah this week. (It’s only four chapters/two pages!)
Liz Kelly est une chanteuse de jazz qui a rencontré Jésus lors d'une adoration nocturne. Auteure primée de neuf livres, dont Jesus Approaches and the Jesus Approaches Study Supplement et Love Like a Saint, elle est titulaire de diplômes supérieurs en création littéraire et en études catholiques. Elle est formée en tant que directrice spirituelle et dirige des retraites avec un accent particulier pour aider les femmes à s'épanouir dans leur foi. En savoir plus sur elle ici .
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