Thursday of 4th Week in Lent
Jer 7: 23-28; Lk 11: 14-23
by Deacon Larry Brockman
Yesterday, I was browsing through the book store. A quote from Plato caught my eye, and it went something like this: “Let me control the music that the people listen to, and it won’t matter who makes the laws.” I thought to myself- “How true that is”. And then this morning we have the wisdom of God brought to us from Jeremiah: “Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.” As I see the music and pop culture of our current generation unfold, it is tempting to say, “Amen!” to this statement.
But then, who is to blame? Is it the current generation? Or is it our generations, who gave birth to and raised the current generation? During Lent, we have a responsibility to not only reflect on our personal sins, but also on our collective sins- our sins as a people, the evils that we perpetuate collectively as a society. They include sins of commission and sins of omission. And it seems to me, that we are just as guilty of listening, but not hearing or acting on the Word of God, as any generation of God’s people, especially when it comes to our collective responsibility. Because our pop culture and music are a reflection of the environment that we leave in our wake. And what is the environment that we are leaving behind?
Now, the Gospel says that the person that Jesus healed from the demon spoke for the first time. Some of the people were convinced that Jesus was from God. Other folks who witnessed this miracle had the gall to either accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the devil or ask Jesus to work some miracle as a sign that he was from God. Can you imagine that- they actually saw a miracle, but they wanted more proof or they sloughed the miracle off as from the devil. Jesus was right- even those who believed in God were a house divided against itself.
You know, we kind of do the same thing as the people of God. God’s Word comes to us in many ways: It comes to us through the Scriptures; it comes to us through the Church’s teaching authority; and it comes to us in our inspirations as we pray. And yet, much of the time we are not giving it our full attention. We want more proof that the teaching is inspired and we don’t pay attention to what we are called to do in response to the Word of God. And so, we put our urgings to do something on the back burner, especially if they have to do with something that must be done collectively to make a change. We rationalize that we can’t do anything as individuals.
We have all heard about the current attack on our religious freedom being perpetrated by the implementation of the new Health Care Act. Make no mistake- the absence of the religious exception clause for religious based organizations is an attack on the religious liberty of all Americans, not just the Catholics. It is not the Church hierarchy’s problem either; it is our problem because we collectively are the Church. So, the attack is on us. And whatever we do or fail to do will be the legacy we leave behind. But sadly, we are not fully on board. We are a house divided against itself.
In the Gospel Jesus makes it clear that “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” So, if this generation of American Catholics does not act to correct this problem, the Lord is likely to say to us, as He did to the Israelis: “This is the nation which does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God, or take correction”.
Tags: A House divided, collective sin, Religious Liberty on America