In today's first reading, Jer 23: 5-8, Jeremiah is prophesying to a people exiled from the Promised Land. The day will come, Jeremiah tells the people, when you will proclaim God's justice: "As the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of the house of Israel up from the land of the north---and from all the lands to which I banished them; they shall again live on their own land." God is just. He allowed the Chosen People to suffer the consequences of their idolatry--their choosing to worship pagan gods. Consequently, they ended up in exile, physically separate from their homeland and spiritually separated from God.
God is also just with us. When we choose to worship the gods society holds out to us, we are also exiled. We lose our way. We become confused, restless and empty, longing for true peace, longing desperately to find God. God will leave us in the desert we create for ourselves until such time, that we truly repent, recognize our wrongdoing or our misguided choices and beg God to turn us back to Himself. The choice is ours, as God respects our free will.
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