Faith

The enemy of the people – Saturday, 17th Week in ordinary time – Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24

Most scholars believe that this chapter is the work of the scribe Baruch who finds mention several times in the Book of Jeremiah. (Chapters 32, 36, 43, 45). Baruch was a friend and a scribe who penned the words of Jeremiah as he spoke them.

In chapter 7(1-15) we heard of the temple discourse. Jeremiah the prophet stood in the temple and denounced all, from people to prophet, for they would not repent but found ‘comfort’ in their belief that should they cling to the temple they would be saved. For Jeremiah these deceptive words that they proclaimed were worthless because they perpetuated all kinds of social evils while donning their masks of piety.

The text of today is Baruch’s narrative of the consequences of the temple sermon preached in chapter seven by Jeremiah The focus of the text is on the hostile response that he received as a consequence of his prophecy.

The prophecy was made during the ‘beginning of the reign’ of King Jehoiakim so we can peg the year at 608 BC. This time Jeremiah had to stand in the court of the Temple. This was the most public place in the temple and he was to speak to every city from Judah that came to worship. God wanted just about everyone to hear what he wanted to say. The message was hard but Jeremiah’s task was harder as he was told to ‘to speak every word that he was told and not to hold back even a word.’ Jeremiah could not paraphrase nor could he cushion this hard message with a cherry and a sprig of mint. The blow could not be softened!

God already knew the outcome of Jeremiah’s message on the people; they ‘might listen’ but yet again this message was a long shot for a hardened bunch. Yet Jeremiah is called to preach with hope and fervour. In this lies a life lesson for all preachers and believers. The world may not listen to what we have to say but that does not mean we roll over and give up; we preach with ardour and hope.

The message of destruction that Jeremiah preached was met with the might of the priests, prophet and people. They declared him to be an anti-national; a man disloyal to his nation. They preferred the drums of lies that were beaten steadily over the years to the trumpet of truth that should have been blaring in their ears. Sadly, preachers of the truth and freedom are all to quickly branded as anti-nationals when they speak for what is right against an immoral authority. Fr Stan Swamy being a case in point. Sadly, brain washed people are not a thing of the past. Governments and corrupt leaders have mastered the art of telling a lie a thousand times till we embrace it as the truth.

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Faith

Memorial – Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus

On January 26, 2021, Pope Francis ordered the inscription of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus into the General Roman Calendar to be celebrated as an obligatory memorial. Up unto now, the memorial of St Martha was celebrated on this day.

In its 2021 decree, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments said, “In the household of Bethany, the Lord Jesus experienced the family spirit and friendship of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and for this reason the Gospel of John states that he loved them. Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of the one who humiliated death.”

Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus were evidently close friends of Jesus. The Gospels narrate several visits of Jesus to the homes of people like Simon the Pharisee and Zacchaeus the tax collector. But the visits to the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus were marked by a simplicity; he came as a friend and not as ‘an honoured guest’. Such was the bond of friendship that they shared with Jesus, that on the death of their brother Lazarus, Martha and Mary called for one person they knew they could count on, Jesus. They were in need of both a saviour and a friend. As the Gospels narrate, Jesus was a marked man in Jerusalem when the sisters called him, yet he came because his friends needed him.

The memorial belongs to all three saints yet each one has something beautiful to share. Martha may often be reduced to a busy body in the kitchen with a short fuse that snapped at Jesus and called out her sister in public; but she was more than a moments outburst, she was a woman of faith. It was her statement of faith, her strong faith in Jesus that prompted her to assert, “even now, whatever you ask of God he will grant to you.” Jesus then said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world’” (John 11:25-27).

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Memorial of St Alphonsa Muttathupadathu

St. Alphons was born in Kudamalur, in the diocese of Changanacherry, India, on the 19th of August 1910 the last of five children. Her mother, Maria, gave birth to her prematurely in her eight month of pregnancy, as a result of a fright she received when, during her sleep, a snake wrapped itself around her waist. A few days later, on the 28th of August, she was baptized and received the name Annakutty, meaning small Anna.

Suffering and sadness was hers for her childhood. Her mother died three months later. As a baby Annakutty was first taken in by her grandparents. Her grand-mother, a pious and charitable woman transmitted the faith and the love for prayer to little Anna.

Annakutty received her first Holy Communion on the 11 of November 1917. This day was so etched in her memory that writing to her spiritual father, many years later she said, “Already from the age of seven I was no longer mine. I was totally dedicated to my divine Spouse. Your reverence knows it well”.

In the same year at the age of seven, she began to attend elementary school where she also established a sincere friendship with her Hindu friends. Anna then went to live with her aunt Anna Murickal, to whom her mother, before she died, had entrusted her as her adoptive mother. Her aunt was a demanding woman and at times even violent. She demanded obedience from Annakutty in everything she did.

Anna had grown to love the Carmelite nuns who lived in the Monastery close by, a love not entirely shared by her aunt. It was here she would spend long hours of prayer at the altar. Seeing this her aunt was determined to get her married and end this desire to be a religious nun. In order to prevent her aunt from getting her married she deliberately placed her food in a heap of burning embers. In her own words she says, “My marriage was arranged when I was thirteen years old. What had I to do to avoid it? I prayed all that night… then an idea came to me. If my body were a little disfigured no one would want me! … O, how I suffered! I offered all for my great intention”.

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No early retirement – Wednesday, 17th Week in ordinary time – Jeremiah 15:10,16-21

When Jeremiah began his ministry, King Josiah began implementing the liturgical reforms in Judea. These reforms were not fully embraced by the people for we know that they slipped back to their idolatrous ways. King Josiah and Jeremiah became voices of conscience to an idolatrous nation but the nation had no choice but to lump the message because the king backed Jeremiah. All that changed under the rule of Josiah’s son, Jehoiakim.

King Jehoiakim was a vassal of Egypt and slipped quickly under the influence of pagan beliefs. Jeremiah’s call in 1:7 was to go where ever God called and to speak whatever he commanded him. Jeremiah spoke an inconvenient truth, he drew attention to the corruption in his community and demanded change. There were no takers for his message which seem to have fallen between the cracks.

That sadly was not the only bad news for Jeremiah; we know that he was going through an inner crisis because of the persecution he had to face. The cause of his persecution was the message he had to carry; a message that was mostly bad news which no one wanted to hear and message that could not be altered by God’s command. There are several reports in the book of Jeremiah that tell us of the lengths that those in power were willing to go to shut him up: dumping him in a muddy pit and leaving him to rot, locking him up in prison where no one could hear him, and even trying to kill him.

So, Jeremiah laments the day he was born for it was from his mother’s womb that Jeremiah was called, appointed and consecrated by God himself. Jeremiah’s crisis was clear, he no longer wanted the job that God had given him. Yahweh on the other hand was not up for this temper tantrums and so he rejects Jeremiah’s complaining. Yes, it is true that Jeremiah’s life was no bed of roses but on his part God himself intervened in Jeremiah’s life. (verse 11).

God tells Jeremiah that he must continue to proclaim the word to the people. It will not be an easy road, but God will remain steadfast to Jeremiah as Jeremiah remains steadfast to the word. Though the powerful will try to silence him, they will not prevail. Notice that God does not release Jeremiah from his calling; he simply renewed it.

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The dark cloud that God could be – Tuesday, 17th Week in ordinary time – Jeremiah 14:17b-22

We are still in the reign of King Jehoiakim 609-598 who ruled after his father King Josiah. The context of this passage is a about a severe drought that rocked Judah (14:1-15:9)
The economy of Judah which was based on agriculture, ran on fresh water. Droughts of this magnitude were devastating and effected every corner of Judean society: from rich landowners to poor workers, even to the farm animals, which were the ancient equivalent of tractors and ploughs.

In response to the drought, the people plead with God (14:7-9). They confess their iniquities, ‘many as there are.’(14:7) When that fails, they try one last trick in their book, they appeal to God’s ego; like as if God has an ego or needs their false praise.(14:8-9). This God that they abandoned is now for them the ‘hope of Israel’ and the ‘saviour in times of trouble.’ They cannot understand why their flattery does not work and why God seems to be throwing up an apparent tantrum for ‘no reason’ by behaving like He is the stranger in their midst. Why, they ask, would a ‘mighty warrior’ like God not help the very people ‘called by his name.’

But this time nothing works. Often it is a single word that signals a change in relationship and chapter 14:10 has that definitive word, ‘THIS’. God now refers to Judah as ‘THIS people’. Up unto now, God has always called Judah HIS people or MY people; that has now changed with this four letter word that has created a chasm between God and Judah. Since they have not restrained their feet from leaving his temple to worship other gods, they will be rejected and their sin will be punished (verse 10). This punishment is seen in the immediate context of the drought but also in the future when they will be marched into exile.

Yet Isaiah, hoping for a reprieve for Judah, attempts to shift the blame from the people to the false prophets of his time who assured Judah that no sword or famine would touch them. God rejects this excuse for its lack of foundation; Yahweh did not send these false prophets, so the message of these false prophets can be nothing else but a product of their own imagination. Prompted by the smooth words of the false prophets, the people of Judah hoped for peace and healing, but instead came trouble.

Therefore Judah will face the consequences of her action; war will now break out on Judah, described in our text as a virgin daughter who is struck down by a crushing blow (verse 17). No one will be spared, for God seems determined to smite them. If famine does not wipe them out, war will! Now in desperation they confess their sin so that they may experience some reprieve

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