“I AM WITH YOU TO SAVE YOU AND DELIVER YOU…OUT OF THE HAND OF THE WICKED” (Jer 15:21)

⏰Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (01 August 2018 – Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori)

📖Jer 15:10, 16-21; Ps 59:2-3, 4, 10-11, 17, 18 (R.v.17d); Matt 13:44-46

At the end of the prayer-complaint of the prophet Jeremiah in Jer 15:10-18, God finally spoke to Jeremiah concerning his people Israel.

Remember that like the loincloth that has already been soiled and made unfit to be used close to the loins (cf. Jer 13:1-11), Israel had sinned and thus separated themselves from the love and protection of God. It was God’s firm decision to punish Israel (Jer 15:1-9), which reflected also in Jeremiah becoming an object of scorn among the people, that led Jeremiah to begin that lamentation.

Our God is indeed a God of justice, yet he is rich in mercy. That is why even after he had already taken decision to punish the people, he changed his mind and gave them room to change and be saved (Jer 15:19-21).

Like the promise he made to the Israelites, God is always waiting for us to forgive, save and deliver us from the hands of the evil one (Jer 15:21). The question should be on whether we are ready to come back to him.

Let us learn from the wise man and the wise merchant who discovered valuable treasure and fine pearls, and sold everything they had in order to buy them (Matt 13:44-46). There is no treasure as valuable as being with God, since cut off from him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

St. Alphonsus Liguori discovered this treasure early in life and spent all he has sustaining it. At the beginning of this new month, I pray that God may shield us from every distraction that might want to deny us of the opportunity to work for that eternal treasure which is found only in God. Amen.

Happy feast day to all Redemtorists! And happy new month my dear. May it be for you, a month of divine uplifting through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Peace be with you.