March 27/Fifth Saturday of Lent
The LORD shall ransom Jacob, he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion, they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings. ~ Jer 31.11-12
In the past year, most of us have suffered more acutely than usual from the “condition we call exile,” to borrow the title of an essay by the late Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. COVID-19 has, quite simply, banished us from our familiar lives. People we love have been desperately ill or have died, jobs have disappeared, financial security compromised, and for too many, lonely isolation has been a daily challenge. Even the more fortunate among us faced the displacement of grounding routine, of uplifting camaraderie, of life-giving connection. Yet in a larger, more theological sense, we have always been exiles, cutting ourselves off from our true home in God through our willfulness, pride, or self-love, wandering the stark landscape of that alienation. Yet as Christians, we believe that the pain and dislocation of our life-in-exile will be redeemed by God. Reflecting on the faith and trust of the patriarchs and matriarchs, the author of Hebrews notes: “If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had the opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country.” The destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation to Babylon in the sixth-century BC was cataclysmic for the people of Israel; today’s psalm depicts the joy of their restoration. Once alienated, now forgiven, they — and we — will reclaim the rich blessings of home, the landscape of a better country. As we prepare to follow Christ on the path through death to new life, we are reminded that our ultimate destination, too, is the presence of God, who is the source and the place of our redemption.
O Creator of the earth, the heavens, and all living things, Guide me on the way to the paradise of eternity from the exile of this mortal life. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032721.cfm
To hear VOCES8 sing Stephen Paulus’s “The Road Home,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49Og75MrkV8
