Shakespeare famously said, “truth is truth, to the end of
reckoning.” Despite what our age of relativism would have us believe, there are
transcendent truths. In a world of grays there are still things that are black
and white.
Much of our faith is like that, transcendent truths that are
always true is spite of relativism, political correctness, or a misplaced sense
of politeness.
Jeremiah was sent to warn the Judeans that the city of
Jerusalem would be destroyed and the people sent into exile. Their only hope to
avoid this fate was to change the way they lived, to reject their immoral
lifestyle and once again embrace God. As you can imagine this was not a popular
message. Yet Jeremiah persisted because God made him “a wall of brass,”
undaunted by those who sought to tear him down.
The truth can be unpopular. “Truth draws hatred upon itself.”
But we should not shy away from proclaiming it. That is precisely why we are
here.
Many missionaries follow a policy of inculturation. They look
for those eternal truths in the non-Christian peoples they encounter, and use
that as common ground to build upon and slowly introduce the Christian faith.
But that approach only goes so far. We may come to a time when we must proclaim
the Word of God openly, even at the risk of provoking the anger of our
listeners. To hesitate from this mission, because we fear what people may think
of us, is simply vanity.
Pax Vobiscum
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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