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Dear Preachers:
Jeremiah has a reputation for strong preaching
and outlandish prophetic actions. Well, at least the early part of Jeremiah is
like that. When the people of Judah were unfaithful, he lashed out at them.
Since they were impenitent, he promised that the Babylonians would humble them.
King Zedekiah, contrary to Jeremiah’s counsel, conspired with the pro-Egyptian
party in Jerusalem against the Babylonians. The Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar
took punishing action by destroying Jerusalem, taking the leaders of the people
into Exile. (“But this people’s heart is stubborn and rebellious, and they turn
and go away. And say not in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the Lord, our God....’”
Jer. 5: 23-24)
Today’s section from Jeremiah comes at a time when the people are in exile. This
section is meant to be consoling to those who can not help themselves. God is
promising to bring those who are faithful back from exile. PEOPLE magazine
recently had an edition dedicated to “the world’s 50 most beautiful people”. Of
course, the “most beautiful” were movie stars, political leaders and young
successful business people. (The ones who weren’t young were certainly well
preserved.) What is striking in this Jeremiah passage is that the community
returning from exile consists, not just the able bodied and “stars” of the
community. Rather, the prophet says, “in their midst” are “the blind and the
lame..., the mothers and those with child.” This is already a different kind of
community that embraces all its members and does not cast out to its fringes
those with needs, those whom other societies might consider a burden or less
than full citizens. The ones who return are those who had no one but God to hear
them in their exile. They could not get themselves free; they recognized their
need for God. The “beautiful people” in this society, are those who are faithful
to God. No one will publish a magazine featuring these people; but they are
featured in the bible, where they are called, “the remnant” of Israel.
The notion of “the remnant” has survived right up to the present. These are the
faithful people, of no account in the eyes of the world, who have placed their
trust in God. They are the ones who are assured of a final victory when they
will be gathered in the presence of God, their Savior. What they cannot see with
their eyes now, they see with the eyes of faith. All who continue to trust in
God, despite dire circumstances, are numbered among this remnant. Those in
hospitable beds dying of wasting cancer, but who continue to finger their beads
in prayer; those whose children are in prison, but who continue to pray for them
and give them hope by their constant visits; those who, at risk to their own
lives, struggle to bring justice and peace to the world (cf. the quote by Cesar
Chavez below); those who struggle to raise children to be honest and God-fearing
in the most dire poverty or violent surroundings----these and so many like them,
are the faithful remnant in our midst today.
I used to live in West Virginia. The state is rugged and beautiful; there is
also desperate poverty among the people who live in the hills. Often the only
jobs to be found are in the coal mines, dangerous work that provides income as
long as the coal lasts. Or, as long as one can avoid being injured by accident
or crippled by black lung disease. When the coal runs out, the companies move
on; the people stay behind. They are like the “leftovers”, the “remnants”. Among
these poor, nothing was wasted or thrown out. The women saved scrapes of
clothing in a “remnant bag.” When I would look into these bags all I would see,
on first glance, were worthless bits of cloth, good for nothing but dusting the
furniture or mopping up spills . But in the hands of the gifted women, they
would be worked into beautiful quilts. What appeared useless to this casual
observer, was made into a treasure in the hands of the quilter. Is that what God
does? Does God take the “leftover” pieces of society and “save” them, making
them into something beautiful, into works of art? The ones who remained faithful
to God in exile were the poor who looked to God for their salvation. On first
glance they didn’t look like much. They would not make the list of anybody’s “50
most beautiful people.” They would pass unnoticed, and do---- right up to our
present world. However, no matter how bad things looked, they trusted God when
others in their community gave into their slavery, adapted themselves to their
new surroundings and worshiped the gods of the conquerors. After all, didn’t the
rulers’ gods look more powerful to those who were conquered than their own God?
Where was their God when they were in need ? Jeremiah is encouraging them not to
give into despair, not to sell out to appearances, that God had not forgotten
them.
The promise Jeremiah makes to the people is that the return to their homeland
will not just be something they will have to achieve or struggle with on their
own. What they cannot pull off; God will accomplish. These faithful, but most
vulnerable of people, will have a powerful God acting decisively on their
behalf. They are like the first Israelites fleeing their Egyptian rulers making
a journey to freedom across a hostile desert. What God did once before, God will
do again: once again God will see to their needs and deliver them. God will not
be a mere spectator cheering them on, but will “console them and guide them.”
God will be making the way easier for them, leading them to brooks of water,
placing them on a level road so that the fragile and exhausted will not stumble.
In the final verse of the reading, God is depicted as a parent who had once
given life to this family and now wants to restore them to their home where they
will find peace and again be able to worship God together in Jerusalem.
We are not strangers to exile. By our actions and attitudes we have put
ourselves apart, outside the midst of God’s faithful people. Some of our
attitudes were pressed on to us by the families and environments in which we
were raised. They were further forged into our being by our consent, whenever we
acted out of prejudices, fears, indifference, short-sightedness, exclusivity,
violent instincts, unbridled anger and a host of other acts of blindness. As a
result, step by step, we have fashioned our own exile, setting ourselves apart
from other believers and from the image God had in mind for us when God created
us. We may even have lots of companionship in our exile, accompanied by people
who think and act the way we do and who, blind like us, confirm our ways with
approval and participation. Exile is a place where we can survive--- but it is
not full life. We are away from our true home, worshiping many false gods. (It
does not take much imagination for the preacher to name these gods we
worship—gods of security, comfort, abundance, career, acceptance, isolation,
nationalism, glamor, speed, thrills, control, etc.)
In today’s gospel, Bartimaeus in like the remnant Jeremiah promised God would
rescue. He is sitting along the road, a blind beggar. He seems forgotten by all,
rebuked and told to be silent even by those following Jesus. He has nothing to
earn him favor except his voice, which he uses to cry out to the passing Jesus.
He also has a sight the disciples do not yet have – he recognizes Jesus. He has
been in exile, and like the remnant in exile, he can only turn to God for help.
He is physically blind, but spiritually sighed. He does not have physical sight,
but he has his voice and he uses it to appeal to Jesus. When he does receive his
physical sight, his spiritual sight encourages him to become part of the new
remnant, the followers of Jesus on “the way”.
Click here for a link to this
Sunday’s readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102724.cfm
ONE GOOD BOOK FOR THE PREACHER:
PARABLES FOR PREACHERS: THE GOSPEL OF LUKE,
YEAR C, by Barbara E. Reid, O.P. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2000. 351
pages, paper $11.95.
This is the second in a series on the parables
found in the Lectionary. This one comes in time for the upcoming liturgical year
and like its predecessor is a gem for preachers. There is an excellent
introduction on preaching the parables followed by an overview of Luke’s Gospel.
Each parable is then treated in a separate chapter which includes a section for
each entitled, “preaching possibilities.” A very good and useful book for
preaches as we prepare for Year C.
JUSTICE BULLETIN BOARD
“Master, I want to see”
Mark 10: 51
Do you really want to see?
The struggle against destitution, though urgent and necessary, is not enough. It
is a question, rather, of building a world where every man, no matter what his
race, religion or nationality, can live a fully human life, freed from servitude
imposed on him by other men or by natural forces over which he has not
sufficient control; a world where freedom is not an empty word and where the
poor man Lazarus can sit down at the same table with the rich man. –Pope
Paul VI On the Development of Peoples (Feast of the Resurrection,
3/26/1967)
Do you really want to see?
Salvation and justice are not to be found in revolution, but in evolution
through concord. Violence has always achieved only destruction, not
construction; the kindling of passions, not their pacification; the accumulation
of hate and ruin, not the reconciliation of the contending parties. And it has
reduced men and parties to the difficult task of rebuilding, after sad
experience, on the ruins of discord. --Pope Pius XII Discourse
(Pentecost, 6/13/1943)
Do you really want to see?
Every believer in this world of ours must be a spark of light, a center of love,
a vivifying leaven amidst his fellowmen: and he will be this all the more
perfectly the more closely he lives in communion with God in the intimacy of his
own soul. In fact, there can be no peace between men unless there is peace
within each one of them: unless, that is, each one builds up within himself the
order wished by God. --Pope John XXIII Peace on Earth (Holy
Thursday, 4/11/1963)
What will you do with your sight?
Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS,
Director
Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice
Ministries
Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral,
Raleigh, NC
FAITH BOOK
Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture
readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to
be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.
From today’s reading:
Jesus said... “You shall love the Lord, your
God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first
commandment.
The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Reflection:
The way we know that we are living Jesus’
commandment of total dedication to God, who is unseen, is to make that love
visible by loving our neighbor as self. Jesus’ life shows us whom he considered
his neighbor. Besides his disciples and friends, neighbor for Jesus included the
least likely, the overlooked, the vulnerable and the people who are usually
described in stereotypes.
So we ask ourselves:
- Is God at my center, the inspiration and
impetus behind my thoughts, feelings and actions?
- Who is the surprising neighbor Jesus is
calling me to love?
- And how shall I share Jesus’ love with
that person(s).
POSTCARDS TO DEATH ROW INMATES
“One has to strongly affirm that condemnation
to the death penalty is an inhuman measure that humiliates personal dignity, in
whatever form it is carried out." ---Pope Francis
Inmates on death row are the most forgotten
people in the prison system. Each week I am posting in this space several
inmates’ names and locations. I invite you to write a postcard to one or more of
them to let them know that: we have not forgotten them; are praying for them and
their families; or, whatever personal encouragement you might like to give them.
If the inmate responds, you might consider becoming pen pals.
Please write to:
- Walic Thomas #0405380 (On death row since
8/9/1996)
- James Davis #0510234 (10/2/1996)
- Melvin White #0434355 10/15/1996)
----Central Prison P.O. 247
Phoenix, MD 21131
Please note: Central Prison is in
Raleigh, NC., but for security purposes, mail to inmates is processed through a
clearing house at the above address in Maryland.
For more information on the Catholic position
on the death penalty go to the Catholic Mobilizing Network:
http://catholicsmobilizing.org/resources/cacp/
On this page you can sign “The National
Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty.” Also, check the interfaith page for
People of Faith Against the Death Penalty: http://www.pfadp.org/
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