Homily: Friday of the 5th Week of Lent - Never Alone

Today’s readings, just one week from Good Friday, grow more ominous as the enemies of Jesus seek to put him to death.  What threatens them the most?  He looks them squarely in the eye and speaks the truth.  They want to kill him, in order to stop the message of the gospel he brings to them.

We all want to be liked and approved for what we do, but what do we do when our actions elicit not approval from others but criticism and even persecution?

Jeremiah faced this challenge in proclaiming the prophetic message God had given him.  Amid the severest persecution leading eventually to his death, Jeremiah trusted in the Lord.  He says, "All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. . . .But the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion."

As we move into Holy Week with Jesus, we realize poignantly that being a faithful disciple of Jesus may not always be easy.  God may call us, as God called Jeremiah and Jesus, to stand up for righteousness and truth even though this righteousness and truth may not be accepted in our communities, in our workplaces, or even in our families: to call people back to Mass who have fallen away, to call people back to prayer, to call people to repentance and belief in the Gospel, to call people back to works of charity.

Am I willing to suffer rejection for the sake of the Gospel? 

Both Jeremiah and Jesus set an example for us today: in the face of rejection they turn to God in faith and trust.

Jeremiah refers to God as a mighty champion who will defend him.  Jesus knows God intimately as his Father.  Has your Lenten prayer helped you to come to encounter the Father’s closeness?  Jeremiah’s mighty champion and Jesus’ loving Father is the same God who is with us in our moments of trial and rejection—when we stand as the lone defender of the truth, even when we are abandoned by friends.

We are never alone.

On the verge of a very intense week in the Church year, may we come to know God’s closeness in all that we suffer with Jesus for the glory of God and salvation of souls.