When things go wrong, there is the tendency to pin the blame on someone or something.
But this tendency also reveals the self-defence mechanism of avoiding any blame on ourselves, especially when it seems that there is no involvement on our part.
And even if we have some involvement in it, we would want to point fingers at the main culprit. The last thing that we would do would be to point fingers at ourselves.
In the 1st reading, the book of Baruch states this: We have sinned in the sight of the Lord, have disobeyed him, and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God telling us to follow the commandments which the Lord has ordained for us.
Baruch goes on to say that the disasters and the curse which the Lord pronounced through Moses have sized up them, disasters they had experienced one after another.
Baruch and his people could have succumbed to the tendency of pushing the blame to everyone else, God included, for these disasters.
But as Baruch acknowledged, integrity belongs to the Lord God, and to them the look of shame. Pushing the blame around is not going to help them; they need to repent in humility.
Similarly for us, when problems and bad things start to happen, let us not look around for scapegoats to pin the blame on. In one way or another, we have a share in contributing to the problems when things go wrong.
Let us listen to the voice of the Lord who calls us to repent. Rejection of His voice and denial of any wrong-doing will lead only to disasters.
But this tendency also reveals the self-defence mechanism of avoiding any blame on ourselves, especially when it seems that there is no involvement on our part.
And even if we have some involvement in it, we would want to point fingers at the main culprit. The last thing that we would do would be to point fingers at ourselves.
In the 1st reading, the book of Baruch states this: We have sinned in the sight of the Lord, have disobeyed him, and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God telling us to follow the commandments which the Lord has ordained for us.
Baruch goes on to say that the disasters and the curse which the Lord pronounced through Moses have sized up them, disasters they had experienced one after another.
Baruch and his people could have succumbed to the tendency of pushing the blame to everyone else, God included, for these disasters.
But as Baruch acknowledged, integrity belongs to the Lord God, and to them the look of shame. Pushing the blame around is not going to help them; they need to repent in humility.
Similarly for us, when problems and bad things start to happen, let us not look around for scapegoats to pin the blame on. In one way or another, we have a share in contributing to the problems when things go wrong.
Let us listen to the voice of the Lord who calls us to repent. Rejection of His voice and denial of any wrong-doing will lead only to disasters.