Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
It may have seemed to his listeners that Jeremiah, whom they called “Terror-All-Around”, had nothing to offer but bad news. But in today’s reading from the 31st chapter of the Book of Jeremiah we read:
Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
The one who scattered Israel, now gathers them together and guards them as a shepherd the flock. The Lord shall ransom Jacob and redeem him from the hand of his conqueror. Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion, they shall come streaming to the Lord’s blessings: the grain, the wine, and the oil, the sheep and the oxen. Then the young women shall make merry and dance and young men, and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy. I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.
– Jeremiah 31:10-13