There is a whale hidden in our chapel. Often when people walk into the chapel at the Dominican House of Studies, they are struck by the stained glass windows, the beautiful mural in the sanctuary, or the imposing organ pipes. But the part of the chapel that has captured my gaze more than any of these is the rafters.

There are beautiful exposed rafters in the ceiling of our chapel, and to me they have always looked like the rib-cage of a giant whale. To be clear, they were not designed to look like this, and I acknowledge that I may be the only one who thinks this!

This is a fitting image for a chapel though, because the most successful prophet (and my favorite prophet) of the Old Testament also spent three days underneath the rib-cage—in the belly—of the whale. Before Jonah was captured by God, he ran away from his calling, which many  have done.

Jonah was called by God to go preach to a city in the east, and he tried to go as far west as possible, across the sea to Tarshish. But, our God, who made the heavens and the seas, cannot be avoided from that easily. When Jonah realized this, and the storm raged all around him, he cast himself into the sea.

After he took his first steps in doing the will of God, things only seemed to get worse for him: he was swallowed up by a whale. In finally turning to God (albeit rather unwillingly), it seems that things went from bad to worse for this prophet. So in the darkness, under the rib-cage sheltering him from the storm,

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying:

‘I called to the Lord out of my distress,

and he answered me:

You cast me into the deep,

into the heart of the seas,

and the flood surrounded me; …

But I with the voice of thanksgiving

will sacrifice to you;

what I have vowed I will pay.

Deliverance belongs to the Lord!’ (Jonah 2:2,9)

Deliverance is exactly what the Lord gave him, and Jonah was brought forth from the depths to the shore; from darkness to light. It was necessary for Jonah to go through this suffering, this trial; not only for his own sake but for the sake of those he would preach to.

Trials and suffering are necessary for all of us because, in the words of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, “When Jesus calls a person to lead a great number of others to salvation, it is very necessary that He make him experience the trials and temptations of life” (Letter to Fr. Belliere, Missionary).

By our baptism, we have all been called and sent to lead souls to Christ. It may be the souls of unbelievers in far away lands, or it might be the souls of our family members. But, because of these we are called to lead to Christ, lead to salvation, we, too, must endure trials and temptations. Even though storms may rage around us or within us, we are not alone in the storm. Christ is in the boat with us, in the darkness with us, waiting for us to call upon him.

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Photo by Br. Benedict Hernandez, O.P. (used with permission)