A reading from the Book of Jonah
3:1-10
The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
"Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you."
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD’s bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing,
"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:
"Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish."
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.
From the Gospel according to Luke
11:29-32
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
“This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
At the judgment
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
and she will condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and there is something greater than Solomon here.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Jonah was inside the whale three nights and three days, a reference to Jesus in the tomb – to his death and his Resurrection – and this is the sign that Jesus promises, against hypocrisy, against this attitude of perfect religiosity, against this attitude of a group of Pharisees … The true sign of Jonah is what gives us the confidence that we will be saved by the blood of Christ. How many Christians, how many of them, think that they will be saved only by what they do, by their works! Works are necessary, but they are a consequence, a response to that merciful love that saves us. But works alone, without this merciful love, are useless. Instead, the “Jonah syndrome” is to trust only in one’s own personal righteousness, in one’s works (…) The “Jonah syndrome” leads us to hypocrisy, to self-righteousness, to being clean, perfect Christians, “because we do these works, because we keep the commandments, everything”. It is a serious affliction. And the sign of Jonah is the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for us, for our salvation. (Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta, 14 October 2013)
Gospel and Word of the Day – 25 February 2026 –
A reading from the Book of Jonah
3:1-10
The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
"Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you."
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD’s bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing,
"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:
"Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish."
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.
From the Gospel according to Luke
11:29-32
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
“This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
At the judgment
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
and she will condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and there is something greater than Solomon here.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Jonah was inside the whale three nights and three days, a reference to Jesus in the tomb – to his death and his Resurrection – and this is the sign that Jesus promises, against hypocrisy, against this attitude of perfect religiosity, against this attitude of a group of Pharisees … The true sign of Jonah is what gives us the confidence that we will be saved by the blood of Christ. How many Christians, how many of them, think that they will be saved only by what they do, by their works! Works are necessary, but they are a consequence, a response to that merciful love that saves us. But works alone, without this merciful love, are useless. Instead, the “Jonah syndrome” is to trust only in one’s own personal righteousness, in one’s works (…) The “Jonah syndrome” leads us to hypocrisy, to self-righteousness, to being clean, perfect Christians, “because we do these works, because we keep the commandments, everything”. It is a serious affliction. And the sign of Jonah is the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for us, for our salvation. (Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta, 14 October 2013)
A reading from the Book of Jonah
3:1-10
The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
"Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you."
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD’s bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing,
"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:
"Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish."
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.
From the Gospel according to Luke
11:29-32
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
“This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
At the judgment
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
and she will condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and there is something greater than Solomon here.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Jonah was inside the whale three nights and three days, a reference to Jesus in the tomb – to his death and his Resurrection – and this is the sign that Jesus promises, against hypocrisy, against this attitude of perfect religiosity, against this attitude of a group of Pharisees … The true sign of Jonah is what gives us the confidence that we will be saved by the blood of Christ. How many Christians, how many of them, think that they will be saved only by what they do, by their works! Works are necessary, but they are a consequence, a response to that merciful love that saves us. But works alone, without this merciful love, are useless. Instead, the “Jonah syndrome” is to trust only in one’s own personal righteousness, in one’s works (…) The “Jonah syndrome” leads us to hypocrisy, to self-righteousness, to being clean, perfect Christians, “because we do these works, because we keep the commandments, everything”. It is a serious affliction. And the sign of Jonah is the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for us, for our salvation. (Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta, 14 October 2013)