Trusting in God’s plan even when it seems difficult and unclear

 




Friday of week 12 in Ordinary Time 



2 Kings 25:1-12 

Psalm 136(137):1-6

Matthew 8:1-4


Psalm 126:1 says, “When God delivered Israel from Egypt it seemed like a dream.




In contrast, today’s first reading depicts a reality far more devastating. Jeremiah had already warned the king to turn from his evil alliance with other nations and submit to the king of Babylon as the Lord instructed but he refused (Jeremiah 27:12-15). The utter desolation resulting from the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile has been surpassed in magnitude by the atrocities of the Holocaust during World War II. One can imagine enemy soldiers invading homes to plunder possessions, assault families, and set residences ablaze. Visualize loved ones, shot and deceased, lying in streets and homes. Hear the cries of children searching for their detained or deceased parents.


These horrors serve as an analogy for the destruction of the Temple, the fall of Jerusalem, and the Babylonian exile. Currently, the world faces widespread violence, terrorism, and bloodshed. Zedekiah’s downfall reminds us that disobedience to God leads to destruction but humility and submission to God can bring redemption. He show all his sons slaughtered before his very eyes upon which the same eyes were plucked out and with chains carried off to Babylon which Jeremiah had prophesied (Jeremiah 39:6-7).

It is only through sincere submission to God, true repentance and the cultivation of love and harmony that these issues can be also consolidated. 


May the Lord heal us of our transgressions, just as He healed the leper in today’s Gospel, and may we contribute to making the world a better place. 

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