Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
(II Kings 22:8-13.23:1-3; Matthew 7:15-20)
At the time recalled in the first reading today there was,
apparently, much idolatry in Judah. The
people were not living the solidarity that the Law envisions with the poor
protected from severe suffering. They had
only paid lip-service to God having lost the “book of the law” explicating God’s
commands. The situation was so far from
the ancient covenant that once the “book of the law” was found, the king called
a national congress to reveal its stipulations.
The signs of the present times are somewhat similar. People may not worship idols of clay but they
certainly make fetishes of electronic products.
There is only vague notion of national cohesion perhaps symbolized by
the fervor for the world cup competition.
Most people do not go to Church, in the West at least, and evoke God more
as sentiment than as a rock on which to base one’s life. For laws they often make arrangements that
accommodate their desires for pleasure and comfort.
We will have to wait to see how the obvious strains of
such a social arrangement become too much to bear. Then perhaps there will be a return to a
system that finds its source and end in a transcendent God who has indicated
his will for all in human nature, not in human desire. For us now He commands us to be faithful to the
Judeo-Christian principle of seeking the common good and finding our solace in
Him.
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