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Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr Ezekiel 16:1–15, 60, 63
Today’s reading from Ezekiel is difficult.
It uses the image of Jerusalem as an abandoned child whom God finds, raises, loves, and adorns.
Later, that same Jerusalem becomes unfaithful.
The language is strong.
The images are painful.
But at the center of the reading there is a deep truth about God and about us.
God says to Jerusalem:
When you were abandoned, I saw you.
When no one cared for you, I cared for you.
When you had nothing, I gave you life.
Jerusalem did not begin with greatness.
She began with helplessness.
She was not chosen because she was powerful, pure, or impressive.
She was chosen because God loved her.
This is also the story of Israel.
And in a deeper way, it is our story.
None of us begins with our own greatness.
Everything we have is first received.
Life.
Faith.
Forgiveness.
Talents.
People who loved us.
Moments when God protected us without our knowing.
But Ezekiel also tells the painful truth.
The gifts of God can be forgotten.
Beauty can become pride.
Blessing can become self-worship.
Freedom can become unfaithfulness.
The one who was loved can begin to live as if she had never received anything.
This is not only ancient Jerusalem.
This is the temptation of every human heart.
We forget where we came from.
We forget who lifted us up.
We forget mercy.
And when we forget mercy, we begin to misuse the gifts of God.
But the most surprising word in today’s reading comes near the end.
After betrayal, after shame, after judgment, God says:
“I will remember my covenant with you.”
This is the Gospel hidden inside the prophet.
God remembers.
Even when we forget.
God remembers His covenant.
Even when we break it.
God remembers mercy.
Even when we are ashamed to lift our eyes.
This does not mean that sin has no consequences.
It does not mean that betrayal is unimportant.
It means that our sin is not stronger than God’s covenant love.
As Christians, we read this in the light of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the Bridegroom who does not abandon His unfaithful bride.
He comes to us when we are ashamed.
He takes upon Himself the sin and shame of His people.
On the cross, He is stripped, wounded, and rejected.
But from that place of shame, He gives us the new and everlasting covenant.
And so a new beginning is possible.
Today we also remember Saint Maximilian Kolbe.
In Auschwitz, in a place built to erase names, he remembered another man as a brother.
He gave his life so that another man could live.
His witness tells us what covenant love looks like.
Love does not abandon.
Love does not forget.
Love gives itself.
Today, we can ask ourselves:
Where have I forgotten the mercy that first lifted me up?
Where have I turned God’s gifts into pride?
Where do I need to return to the covenant?
Through Ezekiel, the Lord calls us back.
Shall we return to Him?
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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