Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, Priest (Optional Memorial)
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! (Luke 10:13)
These are some pretty harsh words! Jesus’ statements of woe against the cities where he ministered can sound as if he is promising to retaliate against them for having rejected his message. We can get the idea that he will come in a fit of rage and destroy anyone who doesn’t repent for their sins.
But something’s not quite right with this picture. Jesus isn’t so sensitive that he needs to bully people into obedience. Rather, he is lamenting what will happen to these cities because of their lack of repentance. All the miracles that he performed in them, all his teaching and parables—it was all meant to show them what life could be like if they turned back to God and began treating each other with mercy and compassion.
The destruction that Jesus predicts will come, not from his hand, but from the hands of the people themselves. As St. Paul once wrote, “If you go on biting and devouring one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another” (Galatians 5:15).
Repentance doesn’t mean just saying “I’m sorry.” It means turning our lives around. It means asking the Lord for his grace as we try to change our behavior. This is what Jesus was hoping would happen in all of these cities. But it didn’t. They remained trapped in their sin, despite all the demonstrations of God’s love, power, and mercy Jesus showed them.
Jesus knows how easily we can give in to temptations like greed, envy, resentment, and lust. He also knows how dangerous these sins are. It’s why he went so far as to die for us: to set us free from these sins and to fill us with his Spirit of love.
Jesus spoke these words after he had left Galilee behind and had begun heading for Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). He had done all he could, and it was time to move on toward the cross. Isn’t it wonderful that he hasn’t “moved on” from us? Day after day, he gives us countless opportunities to repent, to change our hearts and behaviors, and to bear the kind of fruit that can change not only us, but the people around us as well.
“Jesus, help me to live a life of true repentance and change.”
Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5
Psalm 139:1-3, 7-10, 13-14
Saint Augustine (354-430)
Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Discourses on the Psalms, Ps 50[49], §23
"Whoever listens to you listens to me"
Someone, having listened to the verse: “Offer to God a sacrifice of praise” (Ps 50[49].14), said to himself: “I will go to church every day when I get up and sing a morning hymn; then an evening hymn at the end of the day and then, in my own home, a third and fourth hymn. This is how I will make a sacrifice of praise every day and offer it to my God.” It is good to do this if you do it in truth, but beware of placing your confidence in what you do and fear lest, while your tongue is speaking eloquently before God, your life may be speaking badly... Take care you don't live evilly while speaking well.
Why is this so? Because God says to the sinner: “Why do you recite my commandments and profess my covenant with your mouth, [you who cast my words behind you]?” (v.16-17). You see how anxiously we have to speak to you... But as for you, my brothers, you are safe: if you hear good things being spoken then it is God you hear, no matter whose mouth is speaking to you. Yet God has not wanted to leave those who are speaking to you without warning them, lest they rest peacefully in their disordered lives thinking they are speaking about what is good, saying to themselves: “God will not allow us to be lost, those of us through whom he has wanted to speak such good things to his people”. So, you who speak, whoever you may be, listen to what you are saying; you who wish to be heard, listen first of all to yourselves... God grant that I may be the first to listen, God grant that I may listen and hear even more than everyone else “what God proclaims, for he speaks peace to his people” (Ps 85[84],9).