Happy those who are persecuted
in the cause of right,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. MT 5:10
JEREMIAH 26:11-16,24
My Soul's Beloved,
Terrible perversities abound in our culture today. Truth is called a lie and lies are called the truth. Contradictions abound and common sense has fled. The weak, the abused, the lost, and the lonely have bought into the lies propagated by those who have sold their souls to the devil. Longing to be accepted and to belong they embrace the diabolic culture that tells them they can do with their bodies what they will for they have complete autonomy over them and not God who created us all out of sheer love. Many have become pawns of the evil one and they hate with venomous and murderous hate those who oppose their evil agenda and stand up for what is true, good, noble, sacred, holy, innocent, lovely, beautiful, and pleasing in the sight of God and angels.
Jeremiah who preached all that God asked him to was so unpopular with the rulers and the officials because it was in direct opposition to the lies that they fed the people. God will not be mocked and retribution will come so suddenly upon us that we will be taken by surprise and we will be unprepared for death.
In Your great mercy O Lord, for the sake of Your sorrowful passion and all that You endured to save and redeem the world, grant us wisdom. Open our eyes to the truth so we may amend our ways. Grant us Your mercy so we will turn back to You with humble, contrite, repentant hearts and not be destroyed by our folly in not recognizing the time of Your visitation.
Jeremiah, however, replied to the people as follows:
‘The Lord himself sent me to say all the things you have heard against this Temple and this city. So now amend your behaviour and actions, listen to the voice of the Lord your God: if you do, he will relent and not bring down on you the disaster he has pronounced against you. For myself, I am as you see in your hands. Do whatever you please or think right with me. But be sure of this, that if you put me to death, you will be bringing innocent blood on yourselves, on this city and on its citizens, since the Lord has truly sent me to you to say all these words in your hearing.’
PSALM 68(69):15-16,30-31,33-34
Rescue me from sinking in the mud;
save me from my foes.
Save me from the waters of the deep
lest the waves overwhelm me.
Do not let the deep engulf me
nor death close its mouth on me.
As for me in my poverty and pain
let your help, O God, lift me up.
I will praise God’s name with a song;
I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
The poor when they see it will be glad
and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy
and does not spurn his servants in their chains.
In your great love, answer me, O God.
My Soul's Beloved,
The Gospel passage for our reflection in today's Liturgy of the Holy Mass brings home to us that nothing much has changed with regard to the lives of those who control immense wealth, wield enormous power, and deceive themselves into believing that they are unaccountable either to civil or divine law.
Herod believes that the law of Moses does not apply to him. Using his position as king he steals his brother's wife and she gladly plays the harlot. Too many people in the world, in the face of enormous power and riches give into temptation and sell their souls for earthly gain.
Good people, innocent people, those who stand in the way of the powerful are swept out of the way and locked up in prisons, or killed, or left destitute with no means of obtaining redress and justice. Salome, a victim of her mother's harlotry was raised to use her youth and beauty to tempt and beguile the weak and immoral Herod to get rid of John the Baptist who was unafraid to call out his adulterous union with Herodias, his brother's wife. Her hatred for John consumed her just as hatred for the Church consumes so many in the world because she troubles their conscience and they hate her for it. She holds up the Light of Life and Truth while her enemies pant after darkness and lies.
Herod, a weak, foolish, licentious man was so taken up with Salome's dancing at his birthday feast that he swore with many oaths before his guests to ask for whatever she wished and he would give it to her. Seizing the opportunity Herodias prompts her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a dish, and upset as Herod was he saw no way out of the oaths he swore before his guests and so he did as she asked.
Too many of us forget that a day of reckoning will dawn for us all when we will stand before You, the righteous judge to give an account of our lives. It is You alone to whom we are accountable O Lord and when the time comes for us to witness to the Truth may we not be found wanting. Life is short and then comes eternity now is the time to choose where we will spend it - in heaven with You in perfect bliss or in hell where the worms do not die and the fire does not go out.
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