Word to the Wise
Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - Wednesday in the 21th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Thess 3:6-10, 16-18 and Matt 23:27-32]"You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, and you say, "If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets' blood.' Thus you bear witness against yourseves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets...."
AUGUST 27 ST. MONICA [mother of St. Augustine]
If we bear in mind that these words of Jesus were recalled by the evangelist and the early Christian community years after Jesus' death and resurrection, the "woe" became a prophecy! The scribes and Pharisees were precisely the ones who engineered the condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus! Their ancestors rejected the prophets of old and now the "children" would reject Jesus.
Jesus' words should give us pause in our own time. Paying respect to great figures of the past who were the victims of violence and building monuments to them accomplishes little if the conditions of their loss remain in our hearts. If we are not aware of the ways in which we "inherit" violent attitudes, we will likely repeat them! We may not be responsible for the sins of our ancestors, but we could very well, as Jesus points out, turn out to be their "children." AMEN
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