The Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time gives us our one brief encounter with the prophet Nahum. We know very little about Nahum the Elkoshite beyond the fact that he was a minor prophet in seventh-century BC.
Nahum lived during a time where the northern kingdom had already been destroyed by the Assyrian Empire. The ten northern tribes had been scattered and their land occupied. Meanwhile, Judah continued to survive, but was forced to pay tribute to the Empire.
Through Nahum, God declared that Nineveh—the proud capital of Assyria—would fall before "the one who scatters." History confirms this prophecy. A coalition of Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians swept through Nineveh, bringing the mighty Assyrian Empire to a decisive end.
Nahum's prophecy is, in many ways, the final chapter of a story that began with Jonah. Around 760 BC, God sent Jonah to Nineveh with a warning of imminent destruction. The people repented, and God, rich in mercy, relented. Judgment was delayed because repentance was genuine.
But repentance that does not persevere eventually gives way to judgement.
Within 150 years, Nineveh had returned to its violence, pride, and wickedness. The mercy they had once received was presumed upon rather than embraced. Now Nahum announces that the judgment once withheld would finally come. God's patience had not failed—but it had reached its appointed end.
This pattern reminds me of the message of Our Lady of La Salette. In September 1846, the Blessed Virgin appeared to two shepherd children in the French Alps. She wept over the spiritual decline of her people, lamenting widespread neglect of Sunday Mass and the profanation of God's holy name. Her message was not one of despair but of urgent hope: pray, do penance, and return to God before greater chastisements come.
The urgency captured in her sobering words: "If my people will not obey, I can no longer hold back the hand of my Son."
The same urgency is found in the words Jesus later entrusted to Saint Faustina: "He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice... Before the Day of Justice I am sending the Day of Mercy."
God delights in mercy. Yet Scripture consistently teaches that mercy presumed upon or otherwise rejected eventually gives way to judgment. Divine patience is immense, but it is not infinite.
The errors foretold at Fatima continue to spread throughout the world. These errors include atheism, democratic socialism, radical secularism and other movements that reject God, reject natural law, and reject the Catholic Church. As these errors continue to spread, the warnings of Scripture and the Blessed Mother become increasingly difficult to ignore.
This is no time for complacency.
This is no time to compromise with the spirit of the age or to reshape the Gospel according to the values of the culture. This is the time to return wholeheartedly to Christ. We must renew our consecration to Him, cling faithfully to His Church, embrace the sacramental life with greater fervor, and conform ourselves to His truth rather than what society wants us to believe.
In many respects, we are living in the moment of Nahum. The same God who showed mercy to Nineveh also judged Nineveh. The same Lord who opens wide the door of mercy also speaks of the coming day of justice.
Through the Catholic Church, the vine of Jacob has been restored. Through the Catholic Church, the Body of Christ has become the pride of Israel. Through the Catholic Church, the door of Divine Mercy remains open.
But that door will not remain open forever.
Today is the day to repent. Today is the day to return to the Lord in the Eucharist. Today is the day to choose mercy before justice is chosen for us.
With both holy fear and enduring hope we hear the Lord say, "It is I who deal death and give life."
Thanks be to God!
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