Speak to the worldly empires

The proclamation from the canticle in the third chapter of the Book of Daniel” Let the earth bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever” is shown in the texts from the Roman CatholicLectionary today to be a precept violated by those who profane the sacred traditions of the Jewish people in the text from the fifth chapter of Daniel. Friar Jude Winkler notes that even though the destruction of the Babylonian Empire is prophesied by Daniel, the text applies to the oppression of Jewish religious practice and desecration of the Temple by the Seleucid Empire about 200 years before the birth of Jesus. The Gospel from Luke tells of the great tribulation which will accompany the struggle of believers as we move toward the end time. The consequence of proclaiming the Good News may be rejection and persecution. The Vatican has released the first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, of the Holy Father, Francis. Like Daniel, Francesco speaks truth about some challenges of today’s world. He exhorts people to say “No” to many aspects of modern culture which are contrary to the Word and example of Jesus. He includes an economy of exclusion, idolatry of money, a financial system which rules rather than serves and inequality which spawns violence. Believers must go with the assurance of Jesus, expressed by Friar Jude as ‘they might kill us but they will never harm us’ and speak mene, mene, tekel, and parsin (Daniel 5:25) to the world.