Word to the Wise
Thursday, March 28, 2019 - 3rd Week of Lent - Thurs
[Jer 7:23-28 and Luke 11:14-23]"Say to them: This is the nation that does not listen to the voice of the Lord, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech." [Jeremiah]
One of the common expressions I hear nowadays is: "blank matters." That blank has been filled with "words" recently when political, religious, entertainment or other celebrities use certain words that are currently considered to be unacceptable to this or that particular interest group! In the first scripture for today, God complains to Jeremiah that "faithfulness" has been banished from the speech of the Chosen People. If Jeremiah were to set foot in our current religio-cultural context today, God's complaint might still ring true in his ears. A secular document known as the U.S. Constitution is often used to ban religious expression from public expression. This is not the fault of the document itself, but of those who misuse it to ban religious faith from the social agenda of the nation, whether this be Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Buddhist, Hindu or whatever. We do still have the words, "under God," in the Pledge of Allegiance," but the allegiance being pledged is not to God but to the nation!
Jeremiah frequently complains about how difficult it is to be a prophet when people have hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks against God. We Catholics have experienced the power of government being used to force our institutions to act in ways contrary to fundamental beliefs in the sacredness of all life. To be faithful in the face of powers that do not respect faith requires integrity and perseverance. We can make "faithfulness" a word that matters. AMEN