Jeremiah 4 – Sincere Repentance – Spiritual Courage
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
The book of the prophet Jeremiah is one of my favorites, and we visit it often in our Noontime reflections. Today’s reading is appropriate as we approach Advent season as it centers on sincere repentance.
From the Douay Bible: Break up anew your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns . . . Destruction upon destruction is called for, and all the earth is laid waste. It seems as if all of God’s creation is hopeless. Where do we go when our addictions and false gods leave us bereft? Where do we turn? We turn – and return – to God.
The reflection in MAGNIFICAT today is about spiritual courage and it is written by Fr. Servais Pinckaers, O.P. There is a courage that surpasses all others in depth and nobility, and which is, nonetheless, within the reach of all. I call it spiritual courage. The heart of spiritual courage is formed by a love of Truth. To say yes to Truth and to follow wherever it leads calls for the greatest courage. In fact, as Saint John puts it, when the light shines in us, it reveals our inner darkness and shows up our sin. It forces us out of our own protective shell and makes us turn over a new leaf. It insists that we die to ourselves like the grain of wheat thrown into the ground to be reborn to another, unknown life.
It takes courage to look at ourselves with honesty. It takes courage to move away from our thorny addictions with which we are comfortable. It takes courage to turn over a new leaf and allow the grain of wheat to die to self in order to be reborn. It takes courage to step away from the protective cover of these thorns in our life that we dislike, but that we know so well, into the Light, into the Truth. It takes courage to plow and plant the field we left so long ago, the fallow ground, the place where God speaks, the field alive in hope and love. When we step into the light of that field we finally understand, because we are standing in the open, away from the thorns, amid the swaying grass of the fallow field of our life . . . with nothing but God surrounding us. This is what the prophet calls to us today: Break up anew your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns.
In the deepest corners of our hearts where the light has not shone, we must open up to the healing presence of Christ. In those places of our lives where we have allowed time and Christ to heal us, we must be open to new growth. In the relationships we have made, broken, and re-made where anger and hurt and anxiety have held sway, we must allow the transformative power of the Risen Christ to enter in order to bless all our unions as holy. For without Christ, where do we go? Where do we turn when the Light of Truth finally strikes deep within?
We are not alone. We walk this journey with all of God’s creation. We rejoice in the work before us, this tilling of fallow ground away from the thorny patches. Lent is a time to dig deep, to discover, to unburden, to renew.
Cameron, Peter John, Rev., ed. “Meditation for the Day” MAGNIFICAT. 1 March 2008. Print.
A Favorite first poste during Lent but now guiding us toward the gift of the nativity of Christ.
Images from: http://www.joyfulheart.com/new-years/fallow-ground.htm and http://stutteringjack.com/stuttering-stammering-studdering-a-new-approach-to-stuttering-treatment/
The Noontimes 