Thursday, March 11, 2021

 Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

 (Jeremiah 7:23-28; Luke 11:14-23)

 In today’s first reading Jeremiah accuses the people of Jerusalem of turning their backs on God.  They have not been faithful to the Covenant that they have made with their Lord.  According to Jeremiah, they no longer even care about the promises that they made.  The situation has not improved by Jesus’ time.  In the gospel he sees the same hardness of heart that impedes the coming of God.  The people refuse to accept him as God’s prophet so that they do not have to conform to his teaching.

The same offense may be found in our society although, perhaps, magnified.  Faithfulness to one’s baptismal promises is often considered a betrayal of self.  More important than the baptismal covenant are the values that one recognizes for her or himself.  People will abandon their culture, their family upbringing, even previous choices to do what they think materially advantageous at the moment. 

Faithfulness is an all-encompassing virtue.  It acknowledges one’s readiness to live in the ways that we have professed.  But we are not only faithful to principles; we are also faithful to the people who have imparted those principles.  For us Christians this means faithfulness to the Lord Jesus.  We promise to do as he commands because he died to secure our deep and lasting happiness.