Word to the Wise
Saturday, July 28, 2012 - Saturday in the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jer 7:1-11 and Matt 13:24-30]Put not your trust in the deceitful words: "This is the temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord!" Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with his neighbor; if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no long shed innocent blood in this place, or follow strange gods to you own harm, will I remain with you in this place, in the land I gave your fathers long ago and forever.
Jeremiah is ordered by God to stand at the gate of the temple to proclaim these words! Imagine someone standing in front of your parish church on Sunday as everyone arrives for Mass and shouting at you about being complacent in faith and religion!! There might be some 9-1-1 calls to the local police department! Prophets can indeed be a nuisance! In this case, Jeremiah is reminding the people that worship alone is not enough. There must be justice in the land! The temple was a guarantee of God's presence, but God threatens to leave if the worshipers are coming with "dirty hands."
It might be difficult to imagine the possibility that we could not celebrate Eucharist until we had made sure that everyone in the community was properly cared for. The same thing would be true for the sacrament of Reconciliation! There are some who would deny access to politicians who fail to "toe the line" on certain issues! Here we have an entire society! Collective examinations of conscience in our country seem to yield very different notions of "justice!" What Jeremiah warns us about is that we cannot use a place of worship as a refuge from the cries of the oppressed as if the temple should insulate us from doing justice! The warning is valid whether we be politician, pope or pew person! AMEN