Daily Retreat 08/02/08

2008 Aug 2 Jer 26: 11-16. 24/ Ps 68(69): 15-16. 30-31. 33-34/ Mt 14: 1-12   From today's readings:  "For in truth it was the LORD who sent me to you, to speak all these things for you to hear....   Lord, in Your great love, answer me....  Herod the Tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus...."   Punishing the Messenger   Jeremiah finds himself arrested and on trial for being faithful to God's command to "omit nothing" of the divine but dire warnings the prophet was charged to deliver to the people.  Because of some influential protectors, Jeremiah narrowly escapes the death sentence - this time!  It certainly wasn't the end of his persecution, and a rabbinical tradition maintains that Jeremiah was eventually stoned by his own people in exile, although that is not mentioned in scripture.   It's bad enough when people ignore God's messengers, but it's common enough for true prophets to be persecuted and even put to death, as the Cross reminds us, as well as the martyrdom of John the Baptist mentioned in the Gospel!  Even in recent times, we can recall the violent death of Oscar Romero in 1980, and the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul the Great in 1981, to say nothing of malicious press attacks on other faithful servants of Christ who call the world to live the standard of the Gospel.   But you and I should not smugly compliment ourselves just because our hands are clean of violence or libel against God's servants - we must also ask ourselves how we personally react when confronted by modern messengers repeating in a disquieting  personal way the divine but dire warnings.  Do we tune out the hard sayings?  Do we cut back on church contributions because we feel offended?  Do we seek another, softer church or pastor?  Why not instead have the courage to welcome Truth, even when hard to swallow, and to be grateful to God for the gutsy pastor of whom it can be said, "it is in the name of the LORD, our God, that he speaks to us!"