2nd Week of Lent (B) : Thursday 4th March 2021

When we read Jeremiah 17 and Psalm 1, what questions arise within us? Maybe we may ask ourselves: “Am I cursed or blessed?”; “Do I put my trust in human strength, or do I put my trust in the Lord?”.

Jeremiah is very clear about those who trust in human beings and turn away from the Lord: they will be cursed; they will be like some dry plant in the sun-baked desert, living in a salt land where no one lives.  The Psalmist speaks about the wicked who will be blown away like “winnowed chaff” (Ps 1:4).

What about those who put their trust in God?  Jeremiah says they are blessed who trust and hope in God (v 7); they are like well-watered trees, with green leaves and unfailing fruit; they feel “no alarm … when the heat comes”; they have “no worries in a year of drought” (v 8). The Psalmist says the same things as Jeremiah, and added, that they will succeed in “all” that they do (v 3).

Whether we will be blessed or cursed depends on where we position ourselves.  Are we following “the counsel of the wicked”; lingering “in the way of sinners”; sitting “in the company of scorners” (Ps 1:1)? Or are we living a different way of life where we are trusting in God, delighting in and pondering on God’s Word (Jer 17:7; Ps 1:1-2), and living out the life that brings God’s blessings to us (Jer 17:10)?

What are our inner motivations for living our life?  When carried out in our daily lives, our motivations will indicate whether we will be blessed or cursed.

Lord, grant us noble and generous hearts.