I knew it because the LORD informed me; at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings.
Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized that they were hatching plots against me: "Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more."
But, you, O Lord of hosts, O just Judge, searcher of mind and heart, Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause!
Psalms 7,2-3.9-10.11-12.
LORD my God, in you I take refuge; rescue me; save me from all who pursue me,
Lest they maul me like lions, tear me to pieces with none to save.
O LORD, judge of the nations. Grant me justice, LORD, for I am blameless, free of any guilt.
Bring the malice of the wicked to an end; uphold the innocent, O God of justice, who tries hearts and minds.
A shield before me is God who saves the honest heart.
God is a just judge, who rebukes in anger every day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 7,40-53.
Some in the crowd who heard these words said, "This is truly the Prophet."
Others said, "This is the Messiah." But others said, "The Messiah will not come from Galilee, will he?
Does not scripture say that the Messiah will be of David's family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?"
So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.
Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why did you not bring him?"
The guards answered, "Never before has anyone spoken like this one."
So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived?
Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed."
Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,
Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?
They answered and said to him, "You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee."
Then each went to his own house,
THE CONTINUING CONSPIRACY AGAINST JESUS
"Do not tell us you too have been taken in!" –John 7:47
Jeremiah knew the plot against him because the Lord informed him. In another way, however, he had not realized that people were hatching plots against him (Jer 11:18, 19).
We, like Jeremiah, think something is "fishy." Evil does not seem isolated but rather coordinated, timed, and even conspiratorial. For example, there seems to be a certain system in government and sometimes even in church by which vested interests are protected. Some people, ideas, and truths are blackballed by the media.
On the other hand, we, like Jeremiah, wonder if there's actually a plot, much less a conspiracy, being woven. Isn't the talk of a conspiracy an overreaction? Doesn't this sound paranoid? After all, aren't tolerance and equal opportunity talked about frequently?
Is there a plot, or even a conspiracy, or are we losing our minds? Pope John Paul II speaks of "an objective 'conspiracy against life,' " (The Gospel of Life, 17) which "involves not only individuals in their personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to the point of damaging and distorting, at the international level, relations between peoples and states" (The Gospel of Life, 12). The same loose but objectively real conspiracy by which Jesus was crucified continues today. Live totally for Jesus or be co-opted into the conspiracy against Him, His kingdom, and His followers.
Vatican Council II
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church "Lumen Gentium", 9 (copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana)
Christ instituted this new covenant, the new testament, that is to say, in His Blood (1Cor 11,25), calling together a people made up of Jew and gentile, making them one, not according to the flesh but in the Spirit. This was to be the new People of God… "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people . . . who in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God” (1Pt 2,9-10)…
That messianic people, although it does not actually include all men, and at times may look like a small flock, is nonetheless a lasting and sure seed of unity, hope and salvation for the whole human race. Established by Christ as a communion of life, charity and truth, it is also used by Him as an instrument for the redemption of all, and is sent forth into the whole world as the light of the world and the salt of the earth(Mt 5,13)… God gathered together as one all those who in faith look upon Jesus as the author of salvation and the source of unity and peace, and established them as the Church that for each and all it may be the visible sacrament of this saving unity.
While it transcends all limits of time and confines of race, the Church is destined to extend to all regions of the earth and so enters into the history of mankind. Moving forward through trial and tribulation, the Church is strengthened by the power of God's grace, which was promised to her by the Lord, so that in the weakness of the flesh she may not waver from perfect fidelity, but remain a bride worthy of her Lord, and moved by the Holy Spirit may never cease to renew herself, until through the Cross she arrives at the light which knows no setting.
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