16th Week of Year JER 2:1-3 Jer 4:21 LK 12:19 MT 12:19 SAM 6:30AM
SAM = St Augustine Monastery, Nova Scotia, Canada
IN THE 1ST READING TODAY...JER 2: 1-3... the Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah reminds Israel
of her relationship to God...of how Israel is “sacred to the Lord”...& she....”once Loved
Me as a Bride.” Israel was Sacred to the Lord. He led her out of Egypt...& gave her JER 11:5...
”a Land flowing with milk & honey.”
EVEN THOUGH ISRAEL is described as Sacred to the Lord.....she still defiled My Land. “They
returned to the Former Iniquities of their Fathers....who Refused to Listen to Me. “They have
Forgotten the Lord their God....JER 4:21....you Rebellious Children”
NOTICE THE STRONG WORD IMAGES Jeremiah uses to describe....how the House of Israel
& the House of Juda have made Void my Covenant....JER 10 ff...which I made with their
Fathers....& they changed from a True Love of God....into a Nation Rejecting their Covenant
with God...& have gone after Strange gods.....to serve them!
THERE ARE 52 CHAPTERS in the entire Book of Jeremiah. They cover THEMES Of: Idolatry
of the Jewish people, Obstinacy in Sin, Invitations to Return, Exhortation to Repentance,
Sin the Cause of Misery, Foretelling & Deliverance from Captivity, Israel Restored, & a
New Covenant with Israel.
GOD WILL NOT ALLOW those who REPEATEDY commit Grave (Mortal) Sin....”to get away
with it!” NOTE: The Church has always taught that....Grave Sin is the same as Mortal Sin.
There are many Priests & teachers out there who support weird ideas since Vatican II...
.....do not follow them!
ON THIS POINT Scripture gives us a word of caution:...LK 12:19...”I will say to my Soul:
You have many good things laid up for many years...take your ease...eat, drink & be merry.
But God said to him: “you fool...this very night your Soul will be demanded of you!” The
things you have provided for yourself...whose will they be?” “So is he who lays up treasure
for himself.... & is not rich as regards God!
MT 13:10....”the disciples came up to Him (Christ)...& said...”why do you speak to them in
Parables?” Christ answered them MT 12: ff...”to you it is given to know the mysteries of
the Kingdom of Heaven...but to them it is NOT given. To him who has, more shall be given.
...to him who has not....what little he has shall be taken away.” MT 13:13...“This is WHY I
speak to them in parables.”
THEN OUR LORD CITES the often quoted Prophecy of Isaiah IS 6:9-7
Isaiah’s Prophecy is fulfilled in them which says
“Listen as you will...& you shall not see ...Otherwise they might see with their Eyes
Sluggish indeed...is this peoples heart & hear with their Ears & Understand with their
They have scarcely heard with their Ears Hearts...& turn back to Me...& I would heal them”
They have firmly closed their Eyes....
THE MORE ONE SEEKS GOD.....the more God will help them...that is...one Grace prepares one
for another Grace. One who fails to correspond with a Grace will lose what he has. Spiritual
writers say Grace follows upon Grace. This is really a REWARD...for trying to Seek & Love God
even more. A prime example of this would be St Mary Magdalene.
THOSE WHO REPEATEDLY seek the False Idols of : self-pleasure, comfort, money & material
concerns....will lose what little they have.” Many people are in a SPIRITUAL RUT....& they just
don’t want to be healed! Christ is speaking about those who Freely & Knowingly choose to go
in the opposite direction...AWAY from God. If they did listen to..... & obey the Lord’s words....
.......”THEY WOULD TURN TO ME....& I WOULD HEAL THEM.”