Thursday 23 July 2026
St Bridget of Sweden
Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13. You are the source of life, O Lord – Ps 35(36):6-11. Matthew 13:10-17.
Don’t forget God’s kindnesses
One theme in today’s reading from Jeremiah is a major motif of the entire Old Testament: the tendency of the people to forget God’s kindness towards them. Although sometimes shown in comedic degree in the Old Testament, this is a temptation that most of us face. It is perilously easy for what we receive at first with gratitude and joy to become normal. A gift given can become for us just a given. How many of us take our friends, spouses and other blessings for granted in this way? For Israel and for us today, to forget God’s kindness towards us is a terrible danger. Without being mindful of this, we can drift out of relationship with him and allow the fervour of our gratitude to fail. As with Israel, our responses to God’s goodness will swiftly follow the same course, no longer driven by the motivating love which flows from gratitude.
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