God's Empowerment

Today’s first reading, Jeremiah 1:1, 4-10, presents Jeremiah’s call to be God’s prophet, an instrument in the hands of God to proclaim His message, to reveal God’s presence, and give hope to a people who were facing a takeover by the Babylonian empire and were eventually sent into exile. It was the prophet Jeremiah who warned them of this possibility but also reminded them that, after 70 years, they would return to their homeland and experience, once again, God’s mercy and favor.
Jeremiah’s response  to God’s call came out of his fear and sounded something like: O, God, I am only a boy.  Find someone else! I am not capable of doing what are you asking of me. Please, look elsewhere.” Sound familiar? How often do we not back away from a difficult assignment or a problematic issue. “Oh, God, not again.  I’m too tired, too old, too scared, too weak” or whatever excuse looms in our minds.  We will find one that we hope will stick!

When we do that, however, our focus is on our own resources, our own power and, of course, we are then unable to manage the turbulent waters of any task.  God never asks anything of us without giving us the tools we need, as He did for Jeremiah:  “…the Lord extended his hand and touched…[Jeremiah,’s] mouth, saying, ‘See, I place my words in your mouth! This day I set you over nations and over kingdoms, to root up and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant.” God does the same for us, giving us the right words and giving us the graces we need to “root up and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant” that which needs repair, be it a relationship with a spouse, a fellow religious, a co-worker, a boss; be it rooting up and tearing down, destroying and demolishing sin in our hearts and minds and choices; be it building and planting seeds of faith in our children, in a rebellious child. God is there at our side. God, in fact, equips us with the necessary tools to bring about the changes that need to be brought about for our sakes and the sake of others in order that God’s  Kingdom is made real “on earth as in heaven.”