Friday of the First Week of Lent
March 3, 2023
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Ezekiel 18:21-28
Today we hear Ezekiel speaking to the exiles in Babylon. The exiles were sure that they were being punished for the sins of their ancestors.
Ezekiel tells them that the issue is not whether they ought to be in exile or not, or who is responsible for their plight. The issue is that God holds each of us responsible for our personal behavior here and now. Good people will be rewarded for their goodness and bad people will be punished for their sinfulness. That’s fair, and that’s how God works.
We are personally responsible for our lives. We can’t lay responsibility for them onto circumstances over which we have no control. That’s the way things were in Ezekiel’s time, and that’s how things are now.
