Jeremiah prophesied the destruction of the Temple six centuries before Christ’s birth. He was mocked by the people of Israel. They thought it was ridiculous that he would prophesy such a thing that was absolutely unimaginable. Six centuries later, Jesus was mocked by the crowds as made such assertions, such as that he and the Father are one. In response to that statement, the crowds wanted to stone him. Later, when Jesus was on his journey to his death on the cross, most of his apostles, disciples and family members had deserted him and had fled in fear for their own lives. Yet, as the centuries unfolded, the Church still discussed Jesus and his identity. Was Jesus fully divine? Was Jesus fully human? Who is Jesus? We have seen in the pandemic government leaders who want to keep sports stadiums, department stores, and liquor stores open, but who want to shut the doors to the churches. We have seen statues of the saints torn down, even statues that stand on church grounds, while other secular statues are put up. One of our parishioners at St Jude asked me: How are we going to get people to come back to Church? Will they come back to Church? That is a good question, isn’t it? But we see a lot of actions of faith too. We see people being creative in the ways they live out their faith. We see families keeping their faith alive in their children. We hope in the midst of all that we have gone through this year. In Lent, we are called to make sacrifices. We are called to pray. We are called to acts of service. But, also, during Lent, we are called to examine what we really believe.
thank you so much for this.
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