Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Ezekiel 24:15-23; Matthew19:16-22)
Grieving the loss of a family member or close friend helps a
person go on living sanely. Especially if
the loss is sudden, one needs to recognize what the loss will mean and to
consider how it may be replaced. In today’s
reading from the Prophet Ezekiel the Lord tells the people of Judah that their
loss will be double. First, they will
lose their loved ones, their possessions, and their homeland. Then, He says,
there will be no time to grieve over these losses.
If the people ask themselves, “Why has God allowed these
losses?”, they can find the answer in what the Lord tells Ezekiel: “Thus you
shall know that I am God.” God has
tolerated the people’s unfaithfulness long enough. Like a wise parent, He will correct their
idolatry and neglect with a stern lesson.
He knows that adjusting to the loss will be fruitless. He knows that they must start over and live
justly from the beginning.
Idolatry and unfaithfulness are hardly remote from us
today. The Internet has made the
telephone a commodity to be sought at practically any cost. Although there are strategies and programs
calling people back to church, membership is still diminishing in the
West. There is no starting over now that
Christ has revealed fully God’s will.
But there is renewal in what Jesus has taught in his words and in his
love for all.
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