Jeremiah 45: Living as Remnant
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
During Easter Week we have celebrated our return from Captivity, our release from all that holds us back. Today we return to Jeremiah to take a last look at what it means to live as remnant either when we are left behind as others are taken from us, or when we live in exile from all that we love. Written on December 15, 2009 and posted today as a Favorite.
In today’s Noontime reading we can see clearly that God is in charge. He can, and will, break down what he has built and pluck up what he has planted. Baruch, the man who wrote down Jeremiah’s oracles in about the year 605 B.C.E., is promised here that his own life will be spared. Baruch will be a part of the remnant who will receive life as a prize of war in every place to which he may go.
Being remnant is difficult work which calls for perseverance and patience with both the world and self. Today’s first reading at Mass is from the prophet Zephaniah (3:1-2, 9-13) who also cries out woe is me! He, like Baruch, is overwhelmed by the madness and corruption he sees around him and he writes of the rebellious and the polluted who hear no voice and accept no correction. They have not trusted in the Lord and to them God has not drawn near. They leave behind them, in the wake of their churning lives, many who are brokenhearted, many who see great possibility, many who are ignored by those in power.
From today’s MAGNIFICAT mini-reflection: The prophet Zephaniah makes clear that the world is in sore need of the redeeming presence of Christ who will be revealed not among the powerful who use their power for evil but among the poor and powerless who seek the Lord in poverty of heart. These are the remnant who remain faithful through all hardships.
As we have already said, being remnant is difficult work and just this morning I was thinking of how many times in our lives we are called to share a vision we have . . . only to be ignored by those who have it in their power to do good . . . but who have something else in mind.
How do we live as remnant in the face of so much ignorance and willful neglect of the spirit? We empty ourselves of our own goals and agendas. We open ourselves to the Word of God who longs to dwell within each of us. And we take this presence with us in every place to which we may go.
This is the only certain way to live as remnant because to live with our own agendas means that we are one of those who oppress . . . and it also means that we are lost.
This is imperative: That if we wish to conduct a life worth living, we must remain always in . . . for . . . and with Christ. For this is the only way to live as remnant.
A re-post from April 16, 2012.
Cameron, Peter John, Rev., ed. “Mini-Reflection.” MAGNIFICAT. 15 DECEMBER 2009. Print.
Image from: http://catherinewhite.com/rough-ideas/2008/12/5—remnant—winter-solstice.html
The Noontimes 