+ Although God gets the blame, once again, for the Jews having been in captivity in Babylonia and having become slaves under the sword of other nations, a more accurate picture might be that the Jews were reaping what they had sowed.
They had intermarried with idolatrous peoples and forgotten the faith of their ancestors; and they themselves had fallen into idolatrous ways.
Ezra voices aloud an admission of their sins and faults; he praises God for God’s great mercy, and he thanks God for calling them back and giving them yet another chance.
This was the faithful remnant: those who were struggling to remain faithful to God and to walk in his ways.
+ Similarly, Jesus had called and now was sending forth his disciples to go out and preach the kingdom of God and to open their lives to his grace and blessings.
And he prepared them — even “trained” them — on how to do it, but also on what not to do.
And preaching and healing and delivering from evil spirits and curing diseases of every kind is what they did.
This, also, may have been a favorite Gospel passage of St. Vincent de Paul, who formed the Vincentians (Congregation of the Mission) religious community of men and women, and priests and nuns who were formed to form others.
This community took on the special task of turning seminarians into priests, teaching children, and caring especially for the poor.
And we, too, hear this call to be faithful — to be formed by the Gospel, and to share the life of the kingdom of God with all of its grace and many blessings.
Father Perry Dean Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com.
