17th Week in OT 2020 - Tuesday - The Prophet Weeps, but hopes

Jeremiah the prophet, wept deeply, over the inevitable destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. The Jews living in the south of Israel, as we heard yesterday in that unforgettable scene, had become soiled—like a soiled loincloth. They had allowed the corrupt practices of Babylon to spread among them. Their children, instead of learning to love God with their whole hearts—were worshiping idols and engaging in the corrupt moral practices of Babylon.

So Jeremiah wept. The Lord 600 years or so later, would also weep over Jerusalem for largely rejecting the Gospel message.

Many of us, too, look out at the corruption of the world, the overwhelming number of Catholics who have left the Church. So many weak bishops, so many weak priests. Young people not learning to love God, not being brought to the sacraments by their parents. And we weep.

But Jeremiah did not simply weep, he prayed. He prayed for deliverance from the evils afflicting Judah. He prayed for the salvation of that once holy city. He prayed for a savior. Now some might say that Jeremiah was simply focusing on the negative. I don’t think so. Jeremiah saw the consequences of faithlessness rightly. And he wasn’t just weeping and ringing his hands. The man had been out in the streets preaching, delivering the prophetic message to repent. He was a man of action as well.

In the Gospel, the Lord explains the parable of the weeds and the wheat to his disciples. He explains that yes, there will be tremendous evil in the world. Christians will have to strive to remain faithful to the Gospel amidst terrible, toxic evil. And evil is going to be so insidious, it will often disguise itself—like a wolf in sheep’s clothing—weeds and wheat, during our earthly life, will often appear indistinguishable.

But, before we are tempted to withdraw in isolation from the world, the Lord tells us we must live out in the world, not through isolation from our adversities, but through the unceasing struggle with the weeds that the enemy has planted.

We will grow in holiness and we will find our salvation when we struggle to remain faithful in spite of the sins and weaknesses in our hearts and in spite of the adversity we experience out in the world. And yes, we weep over the sad state of the world, but we must never let our tears keep us from our Gospel mandate.

We don’t know who is a weed and who is wheat, so we preach the Gospel without reservation to all people, we invite all people to conversion, to experience the grace and life the Lord won for us through his own suffering and death, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the conversion of hearts hardened to the Gospel, for those who have fallen away from the Church, for non-believers and unrepentant sinners, and that Christians may be attentive to our responsibility of sharing the Gospel with all. We pray to the Lord.

For the purification of our minds and hearts from the errors of the culture and from the lure of worldly attachments. We pray to the Lord.

That leaders of nations may find guidance in the Word of God for proper governance and the pursuit of justice for all.

That Christian families may be places where the Christian faith is studied, understood, observed, and cherished.

For all those who suffer illness, those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.
O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain