Ezekiel prophesies about the people of Israel being taken into exile in Babylon. We can become estranged from God and each other through sin, a form of spiritual exile. God never tires of seeking to bring the lost home, and we should do likewise. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.
Readings for Thursday of week 19 of ordinary time can be found here.
On 23 February 2022, Inna Soldatenko, a Ukrainian doctor, finished work, collected her daughter from school, cooked dinner and went to bed. She had a job she loved, a nice home, and two wonderful children. The next morning she awoke to the sound of explosions as Russia’s invasion had begun. Within days, as fighting intensified, Inna and her family fled from their home with just a few belongings. They drove for more than 26 hours through several countries before reaching safety.
We can only imagine the trauma of being forced from your home in such circumstances. Several thousand years before, Ezekiel is commanded by God to pack his bag and act out being sent into exile. This was to be a warning to the people of Israel about the disaster that was about to befall their nation. As with Ukraine, Israel was to be invaded by the Babylonians, and the people would be taken away to live in Babylon for many decades.
In the Gospel we read about a form of spiritual exile, brought about by sin. Wrongdoing puts a distance between us and God, and us and our fellow human beings. It can feel like we are in a distant land, far from home. Yet God is so merciful and loving that he never stops searching for us. He earnestly desires to bring us back home to him, and so is like the king in the parable, willing to write off the enormous debts that we owe. We then should do likewise, never tiring of seeking out the lost and the wayward and bringing to them God’s message of love and mercy. “Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times”, Jesus says in response to Peter’s question about how many times he should forgive another. Biblical scholars reckon Jesus is not giving a numerical limit but actually the opposite – he says we should never count how many times we forgive.
God showed his faithfulness to the people of Israel and eventually brought them back home from exile. Let us pray that all those who have fled Ukraine will also be able to return to their homes. And let us show that same mercy and faithfulness in seeking to bring home our spiritually lost brothers and sisters.
Mass today is in St Dyfrig & St Samson at 10am.
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