In today's first reading, Zephaniah 3: 14-18, we are asked to "[s]hout for joy,...shout aloud! Rejoice, exult with all your hearts,...! Yahweh has repealed your sentence; he has driven your enemies away. Yahweh, [your King,] is in your midst; you have no more evil to fear. ...[H]ave no fear, do not let your hands fall limp. Yahweh your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult with joy over you, he will renew you by his love; he will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival."
What is proclaimed by Zephaniah we await in hope! The day of our salvation is NOW, also, however! Day by day we live into the reality that our sentence as been repealed; our enemies driven away by Yahweh, our God, a victorious warrior. In the responsorial psalm of today's liturgy, Psalm 33, we are reminded that "the plan of the Lord stands forever; the design of [God's] heart, through all generations....Our soul, says the psalmist, waits for the Lord, who is our help and our shield, for in him our hearts rejoice; in his holy name we trust."
What we see happening in the world of today and, in particular, in our government that seems to be rejoicing in the passage of a bill that is predicted by many to deprive millions of health insurance and that eventually, it is also claimed, will tax the middle class and the poor to line the pockets of the rich and create more billionaires, will most likely bring much suffering to many peoples. God's plan, by repealing our sentence, frees us from being enslaved to sin. The government's plan is likely to enslaves us to the effects of the sin of greed for generations to come.
We "wait for the Lord, who is our help and our shield, for in him our hearts rejoice; in his holy name we trust," as we know that "the plan of the Lord stands forever; the design of [God's] heart, through all generations."
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