It has been a full week now since we received the blessed ashes placed on our brow to mark the beginning of our Lenten journey. Today we are reminded of another journey - the journey made by the prophet Jonah to Nineveh in response to the call he received from the Lord. Jonah tried to flee the first time he received a call from the Lord, but at this second call he responded generously, and carried out the Lord's command. As a result, a city was saved. In the Gospel, Jesus reminds his listeners, and those of us listening today, of the sign of Jonah - his great act of obedience to God's call - and points to himself as a sign as well, for his generation and ours. He too was sent by the Father, and he too made a journey, though not to Nineveh, but to Jerusalem, where he offered his life as a ransom for all. As we begin our Lenten journeys we are reminded that we, like Jonah, have also been sent, marked by the sign of our baptism, to be a sign to all those whom our life touches. We are called to be a sign of what it means to be people of faith, of hope, of love - and of life.