Jeremiah was clearly a humble man: After having repeatedly warned his fellow Israelites of their impending doom, he makes no effort to smugly remind them of this when disaster falls. On the contrary, he identifies himself completely with their sinfulness, intercedes on their behalf and, as we know, quietly suffers with them in the tragic events that follow. In identifying himself with the people’s sinfulness he is acknowledging some responsibility for what befell them because of their gross disregard for God’s covenant. And this is because any sinfulness—no matter how slight—prevents us from being perfect instruments of God and open conduits of his grace. The more perfect we become the more the radiant light that emanates from our hearts challenges the darkness of evil around us. We are not islands but spiritually interconnected so that our virtues and our sins both impact others for better or for worse. We see this in the life of Saint Ignatius whose light burned so brightly in combatting the darkness of his age. Through the intercession of Jeremiah and Ignatius may we be granted something of their humility by which we too can become radiant with the light of God’s love and help scatter the darkness and evil of our present troubled age.
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