In today’s first reading, we hear God’s moving promise to the exiles in Babylon: “I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.” This prophecy is a proclamation of mercy and renewal: the sins of the Israelites (and our own sins, too) are not so great that God cannot bring about a true conversion and restoration. No sin is too great in that regard.
But it is also worth noting the motive that God cites for such mercy: “I will prove the holiness of my great name. . . . Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.” God will restore the exiles (and will heal us) in order to demonstrate the holiness of his own name. This is the primary motive God gives.
Now, from a certain perspective, God’s desire to prove the holiness of his name might seem an oddly “self-centered” motive. And for a human being, perhaps, it would be. But not so for God. Holiness, mercy, justice, power: in God, all are one.
Today, let us ask God’s name to be made holy in us, as we pray every time we say the Our Father. Let us acknowledge those parts of our hearts that are still stony and hard, asking that God show his holiness and his power in us by giving us hearts of flesh, cleansing us from all sin, and teaching us to walk in his ways.