The heart has nothing on woes and lamentations

Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.

A reflection on the daily readings, for Friday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time, by Father Perry.

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

+ Woes and laments! Woes and laments!

Sometimes the scriptures sound like a revolving door.

Woes and laments! Woes and laments!

But to be honest, it appears that it was needed.

God’s people just seemed to be so fickle; they did what they wanted until consequences caught up with their actions.

Then, they came back to God with loud cries and tears — with woes and laments. And they promised to mend their ways and live faith-filled lives again.

But should we not point the finger too quickly, since the pattern seems to be a pattern for all time.

There just seems to be something in the human condition that makes us a bit unreliable.

We try to be good. We want to be good. We are good.

Until we are not.

That, then, is the ultimate proof that we are indeed not God, but rather creatures of God.

And there is something in our human condition that is kind of broken. We might do good — in fact, really well — and then we trip and fall.

But thanks be to God for Baruch, Jeremiah, Jesus, Paul — and even ourselves — for trusting and telling that God does indeed love us and seems always willing to sprinkle his grace and blessings all over us to once again lift us up and set us on the pathway.

Perhaps the best advice is given in the words of the Gospel verse today, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

Hope indeed!

And so although we hear the woes and laments, we can also hear those words —

“Come back to me, with all your heart.
Don’t let fear keep us apart./

“Long have I waited for
your coming home to me
and living deeply our new lives.”

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.