The Remnant
by Fr. David M. Knight
July 26, 2024
Friday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Lectionary 399
Jer 3:14-17/Mt 13:18-23
No matter how often God’s People were defeated, deported, reduced to slavery, they were never completely destroyed. There was always a “remnant” God used to rebuild the People. Jeremiah 3:14-17 says God does that first by appointing “shepherds after my own heart, who will shepherd you wisely” in contrast to the ones in yesterday’s reading who “knew me not” and “rebelled against me.” We must keep praying for ministers who “know God.”
The restored people will no longer say:
"The ark of the covenant of the LORD!" They will no longer think of it, remember it, miss it, or make another. At that time they will call Jerusalem the LORD'S throne; there all nations will be gathered together to honor the name of the LORD.
They will go beyond “cultural religion.”
The elementary cult of the Lord represented by the ark of the covenant will now be replaced by a more deeply spiritual and universal alliance, symbolized by his throne in the ideal Jerusalem around which all nations will be gathered together. (Note, New American Bible Revised Edition.)
Vatican II taught that “humanity forms but one community” because all share a common origin and a common destiny to be “gathered together” in the new Jerusalem, “in whose splendor all peoples will walk.” All ask common questions about the “meaning and purpose of life,” goodness, sin, suffering, happiness, death. They “look to their different religions for an answer.”
“The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions,” and “therefore urges its sons and daughters to enter, prudently and lovingly, into discussion and collaboration with members of other religions,” and to “acknowledge, preserve and encourage the spiritual and moral good found among non-Christians, as well as the values found in their society and culture.” (“On Non-Christian Religions,” nos. 1 and 2.
It follows we should do the same with other Christians and with Catholics who disagree with us or with positions the “ordinary (not infallible) magisterium” is taking in our time. A restored Church will seek communion, not conformity; unity, not uniformity; and communal searching in preference to submission. Then we will “multiply and become fruitful in the land.”
Matthew 13:18-23 Jesus doesn’t single out any “catalogued” sin as the great impediment to Christianity. He focuses on what blocks response to his word: imperviousness, superficiality, attachments to created things. These are seldom confessed. But they are the deadly roots of our sins. Ministry should address them, teaching examination of attitudes and values, not just actions. (See Matthew 13:15; 15:14; John 8:43-44; 12:39-40.)
Initiative: Be open to what may be closed in you.
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
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