The Lord Will Rescue the Poor"

Today's Mass Readings

Today's first reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah looks forward to Good Friday, next week, when we liturgically celebrate Jesus' passion and death. In this reading, the prophet Jeremiah laments his difficult plight. He is following the Lord, but his preaching has upset the people, so that even his friends wait for him to fall down to have their vengeance. The parallels with Jesus are evident. Jesus was mocked by some of His own people. When He entered Jerusalem bringing the message of God, He was hailed as a king, which we celebrate this Sunday. In the end, He was crucified.

But this is not the end of the story, as Jeremiah makes clear. "But the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph" (Jeremiah 20:11). This is cause for song and praise, because God "has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked" (Jeremiah 20:13).

If we are grieving or feeling poor of spirit, or if we are literally poor and struggling, let us turn to God Who will rescue us. Let us also turn to others, through whom so often God works, and ask for help. As Pope John Paul II was fond of saying, our poverty (whether in the form of physical illness, old age, spiritual poverty, or financial) creates space for mercy. Let us not keep our struggles to ourselves but provide others the opportunity to serve God in serving us.

If we are not feeling especially poor in any of these ways, let us examine ourselves. Are we the wicked Jeremiah speaks about in today's reading? Do our actions, our choices, do harm for others, in the workplace, at home, in our neighborhood?

Pray over this first reading today and try to discern which group you think you fit into best at this moment in time. If you are feeling your poverty especially for some reason, then pray for God's consolation and for any help you may need. If you recognize areas of your life in which what you do or do not do does harm to others, then pick one area that you are resolved to work on, and start working to remedy the situation. If you don't particularly think that either group fits you right now, pray for those who are poor, and work to recognize and to meet their needs when you encounter them. For it is often through our own lives that God rescues others.

- Jeff Morrow