15 March 2017
Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent
When you feel alone because of a particular view that you have in politics, or in religion, or in your profession or your family, and then you finally meet someone who shares your view, you get a feeling of relief and of solidarity.
This dynamic must have been at play in the experience of the prophet Jeremiah. He was alone among the Jews in promoting God’s message of repentance. He warned the people that if they did not repent, they would surely perish. His warnings were extremely unpopular: why not let each person choose to live the life that he prefers? How dare Jeremiah attempt to impose his biblical ethics on others? Why should contemporary, modern people of the 6th century B.C. be constrained by an ethical code composed so many centuries ago? Feeling alone and isolated, Jeremiah found relief and solidarity in the presence of his God, as we read in the book of Jeremiah.
Jesus must have had similar feelings. Many people rejected his message outright, and even his most intimate disciples couldn’t always understand him. When he forewarned them about his passion, death and resurrection, they were baffled. Jesus must have felt alone in knowing what lay before him, and he must have found relief and solidarity in his intimacy with the Father.
May God grant you the grace to believe what Jeremiah believed, and to accept what Jesus taught, and when you feel alone, may you find relief and solidarity, as they did, in the presence of a God who loves you.