Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 399

Return, rebellious children, says the LORD, for I am your Master;

I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion.

I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart, who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.

The many tribes of Israel, separated roughly into northern and southern districts, were united by the charismatic leadership of King David. Unfortunately, Solomon lacked his father's charm; he was given to personal excess, expensive government projects, and poor management. Consequently, the northern tribes rebelled after he died and created the Kingdom of Israel; the southern tribes of Judah remained faithful to the temple in Jerusalem. 

The split was never resolved. Eventually Israel was overrun by Assyria; a century and a half later, Judah fell to the Babylonian army. 

Many of the Hebrew prophets, from Amos and Hosea to Jeremiah, spoke for the Lord to Israel and Judah. They always hoped for a reunion; they continually warned of God's wrath if they did not reform their ways. 

In today's first reading we hear Jeremiah describe how a reunion might be effected: one soul and two souls at a time. 

I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan,

and bring you to Zion.

Jeremiah has been called history's first individual. He lacked the support of other prophets; and the guild of prophets in Jerusalem often opposed him. He was nonetheless convinced of his calling as a prophet and spoke for the Lord. The crowds, with their sensus fidei, recognized him and the authorities had to deal with him. Sometimes roughly. 

Perhaps that excruciating, blessed loneliness inspired him to imagine a movement of individuals back to God. 

When the friars in Minnesota built and dedicated a new retreat house in Prior Lake in 1965, they could count on parish leaders to bring large groups of men and women with them. Knights of Columbus, Holy Name Societies, and Altar/Rosary Sodalities showed up in groups of fifty. The leaders could call their nearest and dearest friends and say, "We're going on retreat and you're coming with!" The groups were sometimes loud and raucous -- you might hear the shuffle of cards and the clink of ice as you passed outside the bedrooms -- but they supported us. 

By the time I arrived as director in 1997, times had changed. People were afraid to go out in public, shy of meeting strangers, and anxious about controversial religious subjects. The best leaders rallied their four or five friends, and then telephoned strangers to invite them also. Individual seekers came by ones and twos. The groups were quieter, more sincere, and smaller. 

I have belonged to support groups that were composed entirely of individuals. They come together because they suffer a common affliction. If their loved ones suffer the same affliction they should attend a different group. Husbands and wives, children and parents needed anonymity as they sought healing. What is said in the meeting stays in the meeting; a couple attending the same meeting might violate that confidence on the way home. 

The Church is not a support group though we do support one another in the faith. We cannot be comprised of dissociated persons; we practice our faith as couples, families, friends, neighbors, and citizens. In a parish, relationships may span generations as "my grandparents knew your grandparents." 

And yet our commonality is our personal experience of guilt and our assurance of the Lord's particular mercy. We pray together "I confess..." and "I believe...." We stand together with these affirmations. We realize the two-edged sword of God's word has authority in our private secrets, and over our life together. 

The Lord also speaks through Jeremiah of a renewed leadership, 

I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart,

who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.

We pray for our leaders. They call an atomized, individualistic society to community, to mutual support as we confess our sins and learn to trust and admire one another.