Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Jeremiah 7, 16-34

'You, for your part, must not intercede for this people, nor raise either plea or prayer on their behalf; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.

Can you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

The children collect the wood, the fathers light the fire, the women knead the dough, to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; and, to spite me, they pour libations to alien gods.

Is it really me they spite, Yahweh demands, is it not in fact themselves, to their own confusion?

So, Lord Yahweh says this, "My anger, my wrath will be poured down on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the countryside and the fruits of the soil; it will burn, and not be quenched."

'Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this, "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat all the meat.

For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I said nothing to them, gave them no orders, about burnt offerings or sacrifices.

My one command to them was this: Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. In everything, follow the way that I mark out for you, and you shall prosper.

But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they followed their own devices, their own stubborn and wicked inclinations, and got worse rather than better.

From the day your ancestors left Egypt until today, I have sent you all my servants the prophets, persistently sending them day after day.

But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have deliberately resisted, behaving worse than their ancestors.

So you will tell them all this, but they will not listen to you; you will call them, but they will not answer you."

Then you are to say to them, "This is the nation that will neither listen to the voice of Yahweh its God nor take correction. Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.

"Cut off your tresses, throw them away! On the bare heights raise a dirge, for Yahweh has rejected, has abandoned, a brood that enrages him!"

'Yes, the people of Judah have done what displeases me, Yahweh declares. They have set up their Horrors in the Temple that bears my name, to defile it,

and have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters: a thing I never ordered, that had never entered my thoughts.

So now the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when people will no longer say Topheth or Valley of Ben-Hinnom, but Valley of Slaughter. Topheth will become a burial ground, for lack of other space;

the corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and the animals of earth, and there will be no one to drive them off.

I shall silence the shouts of rejoicing and mirth and the voices of bridegroom and bride, in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the country will be reduced to desert.'

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Word of God has hardened against the people of Israel. God even tells Jeremiah not to intercede for them any more: “As for you, do not pray for this people, do not raise a cry or prayer on their behalf, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.” Why this harshness? Is it not the prophet’s responsibility to intercede for the people with God, invoking his mercy and forgiveness in the face of Israel’s sin? God’s first accusation concerns idolatry and the worship of other gods. “The queen of heaven,” the other gods, the idols, and the heights of Topheth to which the prophet refers are an expression of the people’s abandonment of the Lord. But where does this abandonment come from? Through the prophet, God reminds his people how much he has done for them since their liberation from the slavery of Egypt: “This command I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.’ But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to my word, indeed, obstinately proceeded according to their evil heart, instead of turning towards me, they turned their backs.” Listening is at the origin of a life of faith, as the apostle Paul clearly states: “Faith comes from what is heard” (Rom 10:17). This is a constant invitation in the Bible, which the prophets keep repeating, as if to bring us back to the origin of our being believers in the God of Jesus Christ, the God who frees the men and women who listen to his word faithfully and makes them happy. This is also the root of sin, which is not just the accumulation of more or less serious failures, which sometimes we are used to recognizing, but the choice to listen to and follow ourselves instead of the Lord. Sin is born and develops from this disobedience. The prophet rereads the history of Israel in light of the great kindness of God, who “sent all [his] servants, the prophets,” who were not listened to. All of history can be seen in the light of the word of God, which we have to love and listen to in order to be happy. Maybe it is too much for a world accustomed to a very different kind of happiness to believe that true joy comes from listening to the Word of God. And yet that is what each one of us can experience when we stop listening to ourselves and faithfully listen to the Lord, who is speaking to us. Let us thank the Lord who never denies us the bread of his word, which satisfies our hunger for love and happiness.