Jonah 3:1-10 / Luke 10:38-42
It is indeed a talent to be skilled in public relations.
We are impressed with people who are wordsmiths - they know what are the politically correct words to use, they sound so polished and they can say things so indirectly and yet get the message across.
Many of us do not have these skills and we struggle with words, and we often end up with our foot in our mouth.
Especially when we have to tell someone about something they won't like to hear.
We worry and fret as to whether we are really the ones to tell that person this unpleasant remark, and if we really have to do it, we worry and fret over how to say it.
For Jonah in the 1st reading, he didn't have to worry and fret over such things.
The Lord wanted him to do it and he knew exactly what to say although he didn't like to do it at all.
And his words were like needles poking into soft sponge - Only forty days more and Nineveh is going to be destroyed - and that could also mean endangering his own life.
Jonah didn't have to worry and fret. His short sharp words resulted in an immediate and sharp conversion of the people of Nineveh.
We also don't have to worry and fret like Martha did over the chores. Like Mary we just have to listen to Word of God and act on it. The rest will be taken care of by the Lord.