Praise to be Jesus and Mary.
In the two readings today, we see similar situations,
yet two entirely different ways of dealing with them.
First, Jeremiah is being plotted against by the people who want to kill him
because what he says makes them upset.
He points out their sinfulness and calls them to conversion.
And in response to that, they want to kill him.
And in the Gospel reading, we hear our Lord,
telling us that he's going up to Jerusalem,
where he's going to be handed over and mocked and scourged and crucified.
On the one hand, we see Jeremiah turning to the Lord and saying,
does good always have to be repaid with evil?
Save me from these people.
Why should they do this?
Then, we have our Lord saying,
this is the reason I came into the world.
He came to give his life.
He came to serve, not to be served.
And he understood fully well that this was what needed to happen.
When we reflect on Jesus,
Jeremiah, and ponder the question,
does good always have to be repaid with evil?
That's certainly the way that it appears some days.
If you try to do what is right and good in the sight of God,
you're going to be ridiculed and rejected and persecuted.
Well, that's true.
That's true enough.
Our Lord guaranteed it for his followers.
Now, on the natural level, we would say,
well, that isn't fair.
It doesn't seem right.
Why would God allow this?
Well, there's a very simple reason.
First of all, he allows it because he wants us to grow in holiness.
He's told us that we're to love our enemies,
to pray for our persecutors.
Well, how are we going to do that if we never have the opportunity?
Are we willing to do that?
Well, it's only in the midst of suffering that we're going to grow in virtue.
So, if everyone,
we knew,
was running around and patting us on the back
and telling us that we're just the most wonderful person they know,
all that's going to do is fill us with pride.
And that's going to
rob us of any virtue that may have been there.
On the other hand, you know, the Lord says to us,
if you're going to try to be holy,
if you're going to grow in virtue,
if you're going to be more God-like,
then you first need to be humble
and you need to prove that's really what you want.
If what we want is to do good and be patted on the back,
then I think that our Lord would look at us and say,
you have already received your reward.
But if we're truly going to be righteous,
that means that we have to do what is right,
even in the face of evil.
That we have to stand up for the truth,
even when it's rejected by others.
That we have to be united with Christ,
even in his suffering.
Amen.
And death.
It's true that on a natural level,
you know, people are going to reject us
if we do what is right and good.
We end up like Jeremiah in the first reading,
being a censure to their conscience.
And they don't know what to do.
They don't know what to do.
They don't know what to do.
They don't like it.
But that doesn't mean that we back off of doing what is right.
You know, just because people don't like it.
Although lots of people do.
You know, they get frustrated.
And instead of really striving for holiness,
they simply say, well, I just want to be like
all the other Catholics and settle for political correctness.
So,
what we need to look at is
how much we really want to grow.
How much we really want to be like Christ.
Are we willing to suffer with him?
To be persecuted with him?
And ultimately to be crucified with him?
Are we willing to do what is right in the face of evil?
Are we willing to serve even when our service is rejected?
These are the things that our Lord came to do.
And it may not be fair on a natural level.
Yet, you know, that's really irrelevant because
our baptism has raised us to a supernatural level.
You know, we have to look at God and see what he's doing.
What he's trying to teach us.
You know, he'll provide all the graces we need in every situation.
Although,
not always the way we think he ought to.
You know, he freed Saint Joan of Arc by allowing her to be burned at the stake.
Not too pleasing a means of escape.
He freed Jesus perfectly.
Perfectly from his passion and death by the resurrection.
Not by freeing him from the hands of his enemies.
He will bring about conversion for the people for whom we pray and offer our suffering.
If we're willing to cooperate and to do God's will.
If we're willing to endure the fact that good is going to be repaid with evil.
But when it comes to God, who's going to repay us in eternity.
Good is going to be repaid with a greater good.
You know, just.
think of it.
The little bit of good
that we do in this life
is going to be repaid with
eternal life,
with Jesus and Mary,
with all of the
angels and saints
in heaven.
When we look at it this way,
then we need
to ask ourselves,
you know, is it worth
the little bit of suffering that
we have to endure to be able
to obtain the reward that
God will give to us?
St. Paul tells us
that he considered the
sufferings of this life
not even
worthy to be compared
with the joys
that God has prepared for those
who love him.
St. Paul tells us