Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Jeremiah 15:10;16-21)
St. Teresa of Avila, the mystic-reformer of the sixteenth century, once complained to God of the mistreatment she was experiencing. God responded, “This is how I treat my friends, Teresa.” The saint replied, “Well, then, no wonder you have so few!” Teresa echoes Jeremiah’s sentiments in the first reading today.
Jeremiah has faithfully and selflessly served the Lord. He has performed bizarre activities like burying his rotting loincloth so that God’s message might get through to hard-hearted Judah. Yet the only recognition he receives is condemnation. So Jeremiah protests that God compensates him for all his efforts with what sounds like semi-torturous water-boarding. He says, “You have become for me a treacherous brook whose waters do not abide!”
At times people will misconstrue our best efforts like Judah misjudges Jeremiah’s. When we do something out of love for others, we will hear people questioning our motives, “What’s in it for her?” It is critical that at such times we do not become bitter or, if we have turned antagonistic, that we quickly check ourselves. We would be wise to remember the Lord’s promise to Jeremiah, “...I am with you, to deliver and rescue you.”
