Feast of St. Ignatius

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. His life is well-known and I will not do him justice to talk about him in so brief a space. He left us the famous Spiritual Exercises which enshrines a very important aspect of Catholic Spirituality.
It is time for me to sketch what I have read up to Jeremiah 18. Since a book of prophet is not a narrative, but a collection of various oracles spanning a long period of time. The editor of the book might not follow the chronological order. Therefore, any pattern discerned is only hypothetical and is the construct of the interpreter himself. Anyway, his main thesis is shown in a huge number of repetitions throughout the text. The main theme was that Yahweh would bring evil to Israel and Judah because of their idolatry. Israel had already been conquered and exiled to Assyria and vanished from history. Now, it was Judah's turn.
As a prophet, Jeremiah tried to pray for the people to turn away the wrath of God. But God told him not to pray for this people.
As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I do not hear you (Jeremiah 7:16).
Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble (Jeremiah 11:14).
The LORD said to me: "Do not pray for the welfare of this people (Jeremiah 14:11).
Yahweh was determined and no prayer would change His mind.
In the reading of Jeremiah 18 today, God told Jeremiah to go down to the plotter's house to see a symbolic act. In Jeremiah 13, we read of another symbolic act of hiding a linen waistcloth in the clefts of rocks. The plotter's act was a more optimistic one.
And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do (Jeremiah 18:4).
God explained to Jeremiah that the house of Israel is the vessel.
If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it.
And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will repent of the good which I had intended to do to it (Jeremiah 18:7-10).
Fair enough. God is a god of justice. Therefore, if Judah turned from her evil, God would withdraw the intended disasters. However, Judah would not listen and would not repent. God's punishment is summarized as
Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence (Jeremiah 14:12).
It is interesting to read Jeremiah 16 where God told Jeremiah not to take a wife, nor to have any children because
They (the children born in this land) shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth (Jeremiah 16:4).
This verse reminds me of what many couples did, or rather did not do at the advent of 1997. While many migrated overseas, many more who remained in Hong Kong refrained from having children. They did not want their children to receive education under the Communist rule! I cannot blame them for bringing down the children population, thus causing the closure of primary schools in subsequent years. But surely this could not be God's command!
The fate of Judah was not sealed at war atrocities. The people would be exiled.
And when your people say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.' (Jeremiah 5:19)
I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn for ever (Jeremiah 15:14).
You shall loosen your hand from your heritage which I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn for ever (Jeremiah 17:4).
And finally, God made it clear that they would be exiled to Babylon.
Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him (Jeremiah 27:6).
It was this oracle that infuriated the princes of Judah most. They were seeking support from Egypt to resist Babylon. Yet, Jeremiah exhorted the people to surrender to Babylon! Jeremiah's action amounted to sedition and high treason. He had to die!
So far, Jeremiah made two public proclamations at the gates of the Temple. In Jeremiah 7, his focus was social justice.
if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt,
then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers for ever (Jeremiah 7:6-7).
But Jeremiah did not come from the grassroots like Amos, but from a priestly family (Jeremiah 1:1). He was still very concerned with the cultic issues of Temple worship. In Jeremiah 17, at the Benjamin Gate, his focus was the observance of the Sabbath.
But if you do not listen to me, to keep the sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched (Jeremiah 17:27).
According to tradition, the original text was destroyed and the extant text was a compilation by Baruch, the disciple of Jeremiah. There might be some mix-ups. For example,
Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land," says the LORD.
"For from the least to the greatest of them, every one is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest, every one deals falsely.
They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown," says the LORD (Jeremiah 6:12-15).
Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest every one is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest every one deals falsely.
They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the LORD (Jeremiah 8:10-12).
The two texts, only 58 verses apart, are nearly identical! Furthermore, it is hard to ignore the many allusions taken from the book of Psalm. For example, Jeremiah 17:8 and Psalm 1:3. In view of Jeremiah's priestly background. It is understandable. And I think it is a good thesis topic to explore the relation between the book of Jeremiah and the book of Psalm.

My dear Advocate, Erminia and Saturnia are on their way home via Paris from Rome. I pray that they return to me safe and sound. I ask this, through Christ our Lord. Amen.