Jeremiah reminds us today of what the LORD said to him: I have sent you untiringly all my servants, the prophets.

Ah, all the prophets! Jeremiah, the Isaiahs, Hosea, etc. Jesus. Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Saint Peter Julian Eymard. Pope Leo XIII. Thomas Merton. Dorothy Day. Daniel Berrigan SJ. Saint Oscar Romero. Richard Rohr. Bishop Mark Seitz. Pope Leo XIV. (Name your favorites.)

The LORD also tells Jeremiah that your people, out of the “hardness of their evil hearts,” have not listened, and turned their backs and their faces to these whom I have sent. They have rejected my “word.” The psalmist today fittingly urges us to “harden not our hearts” if we hear God’s voice (Psalm 95).

We read again today in the Gospel of those who persistently attacked, questioned, and criticized Jesus at every turn. In his exasperation, he says, whoever is not with me is against me.

In the poem Less Than, written when he was 80 years old, Jesuit Daniel Berrigan wrote this stanza:

A fairly modest urging —

Don’t kill, whatever pretext.
Leave the world unbefouled.
Don’t hoard.
Stand somewhere.

The American bishops have spoken out clearly on what’s going on around our country. Bishop Mark Seitz said days ago (as I write): I am horrified by what I see. It’s hard to pick one thing. But, in a general sense, it’s the total disregard for fundamental human rights. . . something very fundamental to the teaching of the church, to the belief of not only the Catholic Church, but Christianity in general, and to people of faith even well beyond Christianity, and that is that human beings have a particular dignity because they are created by God.

As Jesus challenged those of his day, each of us must stand somewhere.

Let Us Pray:

There is nothing that we can do but love, and dear God – please enlarge our hearts to love each other, to love our neighbor, to love our enemy as well as our friend. (Dorothy Day)