Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

“Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.” This ending verse in our first reading from the prophet Jeremiah speaks to us of the sin of the people of Israel, and it is a sin that we can very easily slip into. At the beginning of this reading, we hear of the people’s youthful devotion to the LORD and how they followed him into the desert, being fully reliant on him and trusting in him. But as they became comfortable in the “garden land,” they turned away from dependence on the LORD and began to rely on themselves and followed the idols that gave them nothing in return. They denied the living waters freely given to them and began to dig for water buried beneath the ground, which was not lasting. We too can have deep love and fervor in our relationship with God in the beginning, but then, as time goes on, we can become increasingly “independent”. We may say, “I can do this on my own.” Or “I can fix such or such sin and then come to God for forgiveness.” For me, I have the tendency to want to “fix” my sin before I go to confession. I feel ashamed and want to go before Jesus and say, “I have sinned, but don’t worry, it is better now.” I know this is wrong because I need not only Jesus’ forgiveness but also his strength to change. So let us become fully dependent on God for everything. Let us drink from the living waters of grace that is freely given and not bother digging cisterns of independence from God’s grace. Let our eyes be opened to the strength found in our need for God’s fatherly love and rely fully on His grace and mercy. May we have the strength to ask for it, and may our eyes be opened so that Jesus will say of us, “Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.”

Reflection by Br. Placid Dale, OSB