Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Jeremiah 13:1-11; Matthew 13:31-35)
The image of a loin cloth to signify God’s love for His
people sounds outrageous to modern ears.
But it does describe a radical intimacy as perhaps only a Hebrew prophet
could get away with saying to a religious audience. Jesus uses a more reserved image for God’s
love. He describes it as the ardor that would
make a father wait patiently for a wayward son to return home and then would
plead with a defiant son to partake in his joy.
Still acknowledging God’s love can be difficult. Victims of torture, for example, often feel
abandoned by God. It is said that even
the great St. Teresa of Avila once complained, "Lord, if this is how You
treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few."
But we must never forget how God Himself became human and suffered
a cruel death. Although he was as innocent as a day-old infant, he surrendered
himself to be crucified. He became our ransom,
that is the price for our freedom. His startling
and unfathomable love has given us not only the Church for support but also the
Holy Spirit for our guide and eternal life for our destiny.
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