God Wants to Bring Us Home

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This post originally appeared as a daily devotional on the website Blessed is She.

Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Bar 1:15-22

During the Babylonian captivity, the exiles prayed:
“Justice is with the Lord, our God;
and we today are flushed with shame,
we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem,
that we, with our kings and rulers
and priests and prophets, and with our ancestors,
have sinned in the Lord’s sight and disobeyed him.
We have neither heeded the voice of the Lord, our God,
nor followed the precepts which the Lord set before us.
From the time the Lord led our ancestors out of the land of Egypt
until the present day,
we have been disobedient to the Lord, our God,
and only too ready to disregard his voice.
And the evils and the curse that the Lord enjoined upon Moses, his servant,
at the time he led our ancestors forth from the land of Egypt
to give us the land flowing with milk and honey,
cling to us even today.
For we did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God,
in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us,
but each one of us went off
after the devices of his own wicked heart,
served other gods,
and did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9

1. (9) For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
   O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
   they have defiled your holy temple,
   they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
   They have given the corpses of your servants
   as food to the birds of heaven,
   the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the earth.
   R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
   They have poured out their blood like water
   round about Jerusalem,
   and there is no one to bury them.
   We have become the reproach of our neighbors,
   the scorn and derision of those around us.
   O LORD, how long? Will you be angry forever?
   Will your jealousy burn like fire?
   R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
   Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
   may your compassion quickly come to us,
   for we are brought very low.
   R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
   Help us, O God our savior,
   because of the glory of your name;
   Deliver us and pardon our sins
   for your name’s sake.
   R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.

Alleluia Ps 95:8

1. Alleluia, alleluia.
   If today you hear his voice,
   harden not your hearts.
   R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Lk 10:13-16

Jesus said to them,
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would long ago have repented,
sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon
at the judgment than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will go down to the netherworld.’
Whoever listens to you listens to me.
Whoever rejects you rejects me.
And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

– – –
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

…

In the past few months, depending on where we live, we have been warned and cautioned to prepare for life-threatening storms and impending destruction. And in some places, disaster has come without warning, shaking the very ground of people’s existence. Warnings are helpful. Yet often, unless they are direct, firm, and even stern, we can miss and fail to heed them.

Today’s Gospel passage is a difficult one to read, filled with the language of prophetic warning and judgment. It seems foreign and remote. Even as I read it, I find myself skimming; how do Jesus’ words apply to my daily life?I notice in me a very human tendency to avoid His harsher pronouncements and prefer His softer, more tender words. But I’m reminded of 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, training in righteousness.“

So, like it or not, these ancient words are also intended for me. The unusually harsh words of judgment reflect God’s love for us, and His desire that none of us perish. So, what do we have in common with the three Galilean towns to which Jesus announces doom? (Luke 10:13-16)

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