“O LORD, my God, in you I take refuge.” The Psalmist echoes the cry of those who are pressed down, beaten by the world that plots their ruin. The Prophet Jeremiah is seeing too that there are conspiracies against the righteous but he still ends today’s first reading with, “To You I have entrusted my cause.”
In this time of great tribulation, where thousands of our brothers and sisters in Christ are displaced or murdered by the barbaric while our own political differences create discord, it is easy to lose heart. We like the Psalmist cry out, “Let the malice of the wicked come to an end, but sustain the just.” How much harder must it have been for Christ, who certainly perceived his own path in Jeremiah’s words and knew that He too would be a “lamb led to the slaughter,” while the leaders plotted and said, “Let us cut him off from the living.”
Jeremiah was living before Christ and so he could not have the same joy that we can have. Still he was a type of Christ. According to Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, “God enabled Jeremiah to do what Jesus Christ would one day command.” That command was to endure and even praise God in our calamities. This is far easier said than done, but the resurrection of Christ shows that all the plots and plans of the wicked are useless. By His Cross, Christ has redeemed the world and thrown down the princes of this world and now He sustains the just. Even the martyrs who are fed led to their death become the victors in Christ.
Evil has already been defeated and in the suffering of Christ it cannot ever prevail upon the just and the righteous.
More than refuge, God is our strength, our shield, and our just judge. If He be for us, than how can anyone be against us?
Michael Lichens is the editor of Catholic Exchange, a site offering accessible articles and helpful tools for spiritual growth, seeking to make saints in our own time — especially among those who live busy lives but still seek to grow in friendship with Christ. Find out more at Catholicexchange.com.
Amen Amen ♡