Saturday, June 27th, 2020

We get a mention today of tinsel - in the very bible readings themselves! - well before Christmas. As we hear in the first reading: “The visions your prophets had on your behalf were delusive, tinsel things, they never pointed out your sin, to ward off your exile. The visions they proffered you were false, fallacious, misleading.” Its an important point: Christianity is not ‘do what you want and go to heaven’. That’s paganism. Its also pointless - as well as being a lie. The whole point of Christianity is to free us from evil. This is why part of an authentic proclamation of the Gospel is the call to repent of our sins and live differently. True prophets call us to recognise our sins and to stop committing them - because the natural consequences for us are destruction and separation from God. That is why this topic is touched on in the First reading at all: they are in painful exile. Prophetic calls of repentance are an act of love. Lets not run away from these - but humbly heed them, and heed Christ who speaks to us through them.