These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

This is the word of the LORD that came to Jonah, son of Amittai: "Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it; their wickedness has come up before me." But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish away from the LORD. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went aboard to journey with them to Tarshish, away from the LORD. (Jon 1:1-2:1-2, 11)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100923.cfm
The Book of Jonah is a somewhat quirky, humorous story of a reluctant prophet running away from the Lord. Of course, we can all sympathize. We’ve been there, done that. But God has a way of bringing us back to where God wants us to be. And the Scriptures are gifted with the best “fish story” ever!