We
see a lot of congruities between how the prophet Jeremiah was treated in his
day and how Jesus was treated by many in his life and ministry. Jeremiah’s critics denounced him and persecuted him. Even
Jeremiah’s friends abandoned him – he says that they are awaiting his downfall. The
scribes and Pharisees and so many of the Jews have turned against Jesus in many
different ways as well. They
try to trap him into violating God’s laws. In
today’s Gospel, they are even ready to stone him. Today, after our mass is concluded, we commemorate Jesus’ journey to the cross
as we pray the ancient prayer devotion of the stations of the cross. A
week from today, we will venerate the cross of Jesus at our Good Friday prayer
service, commemorating the very day that he died on the cross. Jeremiah had confidence in God. He knew that his attackers and critics would
not prevail in the end. Jeremiah remained the faithful prophet of God
throughout his lifetime. And
Jesus remained faithful to his Father and to his mission even to his death on
the cross. This
week, we have a couple of celebrations in the middle of our Lenten journey that
speak to the faith of our ancestors and to the Catholic faithful of the present
day we continue these traditions. Yesterday, we celebrated St Patrick’s day and the faith of the Irish Catholics
who been such an important part of our American Catholic journey. After
our mass and the stations of the cross today, we celebrate St Joseph’s table, a
tradition from the island of Sicily in Italy when many centuries ago the
prayers to St Joseph by the Catholic faithful ended a terrible famine. The
tradition of a great feast of St Joseph’s table started – the sick and the
homeless and the poor were specifically invited to take part. Like
Jeremiah and like our ancestors, may we always remain faithful to God no matter
what adversity and trouble await us on our journey.
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