Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
(Hebrews 3:7-14; Mark 1:40-45)
The background for the Letter to the Hebrews has much in
common with what is happening today.
Hebrew Christians, disillusioned that the Lord had not returned, were
leaving the community of faith. Today
many who were raised Catholics no longer attend mass. They find the promises of Christian faith,
especially eternal life, as unreliable.
In today’s lesson from Hebrews, the author of the letter
exhorts the community not to give up hope.
He reminds the people of what happened in the desert after the exodus
from Egypt. The people forgot how the
Lord had delivered them from slavery. When
experiencing hardship in the desert, they demanded new signs of power rather
than trust in the Lord’s goodness.
Certainly there is cause for today’s disillusion with the
Catholic Church. Some of its officials
have proven to be corrupt. Some of its
faithful have shown themselves as unrepentant.
But all this is not to say that the Church does not create saints. Indeed, we can expect those who express their
love for God openly and regularly to show similarly impressive virtue.
