8/1/2014 – St Alphonsus Liguori –Jeremiah 26:1-9

        We hear harsh words that the prophet Jeremiah delivers to the people of Israel today, which were given about 6 centuries before the birth of Jesus..  Even though the people are told that disaster will befall them if they do not repent and turn back to the Lord, they become angry and indignant, wanting to put the prophet Jeremiah to death.  Sometimes we don’t want to hear what God says to us, do we.  I remember one prisoner at the state prison in Yazoo City telling me that when he was in the process of doing the act that put him into prison, he knew that God was trying to give him the message that he was doing something that was wrong, but that he did not want to hear what God was saying and did it anyway.   The Lord tells them that Israel will be treated like Shiloh if she does not repent.  Shiloh was an ancient shrine that had been destroyed by the Philistines. 

      God sends messengers and prophets to bring his message to the people.  Throughout the history of Christianity, God has sent different people to found religious orders, to bring a certain charism to our Catholic faith and to bring a certain message to the world.   Yesterday, we heard of Ignatius of Loyola, who in the era of the Protestant Reformation founded the Jesuits, an order who has sent missionaries all of the world, an order to pledged their allegiance in a special way to the Pope at a time when papal authority was being questioned. Today, we celebrate Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church who was born into a noble family in Naples in Italy and who had a celebrated career as a lawyer before becoming a priest.  St Alphonsus founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer – the Redemptorists – in 1732.  This congregation’s goal was to teach and preach in the slums of cities and other poor places, to bring the Gospel to that reality.  They also fought Jansenism, a spirituality which created an exaggerated sense of sin, deterring people from receiving the Eucharist.   God used Alphonsus Liguori and the Redemptorists in preaching his message in a very specific way, in bringing his message of love and mercy to the world.  He encouraged people to have a strong devotion to Mary and the Blessed Sacrament.   May the Lord open our ears to the prophets who speak to us today, even though we might not want to hear the message that they have to tell us.