Severe blindness and selfishness

The story of the power struggles in the land of Judah and Israel at the time of the Prophet Ezekiel is one of the choices of the leaders of the people to put trust in political and cultural alliances rather than relying on Providence. The text from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel in the Roman Catholic Lectionary today describes the symbolic action of Ezekiel, in response to an inspiration from God, to warn the leaders of the severe consequence of their decisions. Friar Jude Winkler aligns this prophesy with the time between the deportation of the leaders of Jerusalem to Babylon in 597 BCE and the destruction of Jerusalem associated with the second deportation in 587 BCE. We do not see the prophetic messages which are in our time that exhort us to change. Friar Jude explains the importance of the perfect number 7 in relation to Jesus response to Peter’s question about how many times we are to forgive our brother in the episode from the Gospel of Matthew. The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant tells of the power that selfishness has to overrule our experience of deep forgiveness and mercy. When we open our eyes today, what direction do we see government, business and social leadership advocating in terms of caring for those overburdened with financial difficulty? What mercy and forgiveness is evident in the response of people to being wronged? Who is taking action like Ezekiel to warn us of the severe consequence of society ruled by self interest and greed? Friar Jude advises that we need to be cautious in self assessment that judges our own behaviour as “not so bad”. Our selfishness is the dark glass that hides the brightness of the prophets in our time.