Heeding the Voice of the Lord

In today's first reading, Baruch 1: 15-22, the Chosen People realize that the evils of the past cling to them.  Acknowledging their sinfulness, the exiles in Babylon pray:  "Justice is with the Lord, our God; and we today are flushed with shame, we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem, that we, with our kings and rulers and priests and prophets, and with our ancestors, have sinned in the Lord's sight and disobeyed him."  The Israelites grieve the fact that "we have neither heeded the voice of the Lord, our God, nor followed the precepts which the Lord has set before us...[W]e have been disobedient to the Lord our God, and only too ready to disregard his voice." 

 We certainly can repeat those truths, as we, too, have often paid no attention to the voice of our God. We, too, have many times been disobedient to the Lord, our God.  Evil seems to cling to us, as the Chosen People realized had become their reality.  We can look back to Adam and Eve who followed their own wills, not the will of God for them.  Also, instead of owning their personal truth, Eve blamed the serpent--the devil made me do it--and Adam blamed Eve--it was her fault.  Neither accepted responsibility for the pit into which each had fallen.

How often do we deny our personal responsibility for the "pits" into which we have fallen. How often, that is, do we not blame someone else for our sinfulness, as Eve blamed the serpent and Adam blamed Eve. This behavior, and other ways in which the voice of the Lord goes unheard, abounds in our world today, in spite of the fact that we have Jesus in our midst! Will Jesus say to us what he said to the people of Choazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum:  Woe to you...For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and  Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgement than for you. And as for you Capernaum, 'will you be exalted to heaven?  You will go down to the netherworld.' Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me." 

To whom am I, are you, listening?