Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Jeremiah 14:17-22; Matthew13:36-43)
A scene of Stephen Spielberg’s movie “Lincoln” shows the
president riding through a recent battlefield.
The time is just before sunrise or after sunset when a grey hue hangs
over the shocking reality. On every side
of Lincoln’s carriage are cadavers piled up like sacks of potatoes. The carnage indicates why Lincoln is said to
have aged ten years in the previous twelve months. It also gives an idea of Jeremiah’s somber in
today’s first reading.
Babylon has just overwhelmed Jerusalem. The empire has left civilians dead in their
tracks and has devastated the Temple.
People scavenge for food. The men
of God cannot give consolation as they too experience dire need. Jeremiah can only pray to God. He laments the sins of Judah that brought
upon itself such disaster. Then he asks for
mercy.
We too easily forget how terrible war is. Inclined to think of battle in terms of valor
and victory, we often forget the desolation it inevitably produces. This year in the multiple elections
throughout the world may the people choose leaders who cringe at the prospect
of war and strive for prosperity without violence.
