marital problems

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Today's reading tells the story of Israel's youth as a nation, of her first love for God and God's care for her. God wonders where things went wrong, why Israel has abandoned being God's bride to follow other gods. This bridal image is a common metaphor for God and Israel and for God and the church. There's great depth in it because marriage is a rich and complicated relationship, as is our relationship with God. There are all kinds of distractions in the world that tempt us from God. Often the things we want are part of God's plan for us, things God wants us to enjoy. The question is, are we seeking things as part of our relationship with God or are we seeking things instead of our relationship with God? When we stray God always calls us home again.

God bless,
Sam

Jeremiah 2:1-8
The word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord: I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it were held guilty; disaster came upon them, says the Lord. 4Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.

5Thus says the Lord: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves? 6They did not say, “Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?” 7I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. 8The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?” Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit.