In today's first reading, Baruch 5: 1-9, the prophet asks Jerusalem "to take off [its] robe of mourning and misery....For God will show all the earth your splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship.....Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God. Led away on foot by their enemies they left you: but God will bring them back to you borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones. For God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God."
What promises, not only to Jerusalem, but to every city and town, nations and peoples! Every continent, every race, every religion is ask "to take off its robe of mourning and misery. "...God will show all the earth" the splendor of God" hidden within it. Are we willing to yield our robes of mourning to the Lord? Are we willing to leave corruption and sin, injustices and deceit behind? God has named us forever "the peace of justice." "Lofty mountain[s]" of pride and lust, gluttony and avarice God has commanded to "be made low." Isis and Al Quaeda, abortionists, human traffickers, those perpetrating slave labor, all those involved in corruption of any kind will be defeated. That within you and me that needs to be brought low will be leveled and virtue risen in its place.
O, the glory and the splendor, the power and the honor of our God in our midst. God, who is our leader and our warrior, will not be stopped in His plan of saving us. We may for a time be "led away...by [our] enemies]...but God will bring [us] back...borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones," Baruch prophesies!
These are some of my reflections on today's first Scripture reading, Baruch 5: 1-9. What is God saying to you in this reading?
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