Archive for month: September, 2024

 Sunday Reflection upon Psalm 1, Jeremiah & Mark’s Gospel

The first Psalm contrasts the ways of those who “delight in the teaching of the Lord” with the way of the “wicked.” Psalm 1 points out that God watches over the righteous and judges the way of the wicked. The prophet Jeremiah lived through the downfall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. Yet, it was not the Babylonians that Jeremiah feared but the leaders who refused to listen to Jeremiah. After all, he prophesied surrendering to the Babylonians while pointing out Israelite idolatry and their failure to create a fair and just society.

Jeremiah suffered for his preaching, but the divine strength of God sustained him. Our savior, faithful to God and others, was not immune to suffering.   We may suffer for doing the right and good deed, but we are in good company, united in our shared experience of choosing righteousness. Choosing to do the right and good thing may bring suffering, but when we do, God sustains us and holds us up as God did for the prophets and Jesus himself.