Friday, 4/4/14
The readings today highlight
Jerusalem’s ruling class both in the time of the Prophets and in Our Lord’s
time.
In the time of the Prophets, those
leaders were painfully aware of the goodness and truth of the Prophets, but
their self-interest was so complete, that it kept them from appreciating the
holiness that was hitting them in their faces.
Feeling confident that God would
not come down to rescue his Prophets, they felt that in the eyes of the people
they could discredit the prophets by torturing them into ugliness.
In Our Lord’s time the
self-centeredness of the rulers was so complete that it kept the goodness of
Jesus from getting through to their hearts. They felt they had to dissuade the
populous from realizing that Jesus was a great prophet. As well, they had to
deal with their own tough guards who had been incapable of arresting Jesus,
because, as they put it, “No man has ever spoken as this man speaks.”
In all honesty, instead of
condemning those leaders, we must turn to ourselves. We must keep from letting
our self interest blind us to the truth staring us in the face.
There was a Canadian Jesuit,
Father Bernard Lonergan who reduced being a good person to three simple steps.
One: We must fully open our eyes to what is going on. Two: We must
discern what is right and wrong about what is going on. Three: We must do our
best to promote the good and block the evil before us.
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