Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BOAKYE YEBOAH

CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF KUMASI, GHANA

How do you live with organized hatred at home, in the work place, or at an educational institution? Denouncement carries the nuance of disconnection, abandonment, and disassociation. It is extremely painful when one is denounced by his/her own people as Karl Marx refers to it as “alienation from one’s species being,” meaning one is not abandoned or cut-off by an alien but by his/her own people.

Today’s first reading is a story about Jeremiah’s denouncement.  The writer describes Jeremiah’s story in a “a self-reported speech manner,” that is, Jeremiah giving an account of his own denouncement. Jeremiah exclaimed: “…I hear the whisperings of many: Terror on every side! Denounce! Let us denounce him! All those who were friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine…” One can sense that Jeremiah’s denouncement was carefully planned and executed and this makes it extremely painful. If done by an enemy, it could be understood as a normal life’s occurrence but when it is planned and executed by a close-relation, it can be heart breaking and life shattering. One caught-up in such a situation can relate this situation to the words of the following Psalm: “Even my bossom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me…” (Psalm 41:9). In our day-to-day life’s events we witness denouncement and I will discuss it in three main stages. Denouncement like Jeremiah’s own can be found in the primary stage, the secondary stage, and the advanced stage.

1. THE PRIMARY STAGE

This is the stage where children suffer denouncement from their own family members especially their parents. In major cities in the world especially in the developing world, children are denounced and abandoned on the streets and sometimes even thrown away in the dumpster. I know a group of nuns who take care of orphans and once when I visited them, I saw week-old babies and inquired how they came across those babies. I was told that some were picked-up from the streets while one of them was picked-up from the garbage. I could not believe my ears – how can a mother throw away her own child. When people tell their stories of denouncement in the primary stage, one may weep. Apart from those who are denounced and abandoned on the streets, some other children are denounced and abused in their own homes by their parents.

2. SECONDARY STAGE

The secondary stage is when denouncement happens when someone is an adult. Here I would like to focus on broken-heart issues through marital separations and betrayal from close friends. At times when people tell of their love stories, as a priest I find it difficult to understand. How can someone promise “a never-ending love to another” and denounce the person years later through infidelity or divorce. A lot of people are going through an emotional crisis because of marital denouncement. When this type of denouncement takes place, it not only affects the individual involved but children and some extended family members may also be affected. At the secondary level, some people also experience denouncement through betrayal. This betrayal takes place when a close acquaintance denounces the other for personal gain.

3. ADVANCED STAGE

This is the stage for old-age denouncement. Many elderly people have been abandoned and disconnected from their families and left in nursing homes. At times the loneliness that comes with this type of denouncement can be unimaginable. One may visit a nursing home and meet some elderly people who have been denounced by their own children.

When we reflect on denouncement as seen in today’s first reading, we can find two groups: those who are perpetrators of denouncement and those who are denounced. At times some people find themselves at places where two options are given: join us in our ways or we will make life hell for you. In all these situations, the second reading and the gospel passage offer hope for the denounced. In moments like denouncement, one should take solace in the fact that the Lord will never abandon the righteous. With his confidence in the Lord, Jeremiah said: “…but the Lord is with me like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph. In their failure they will be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion. O Lord of hosts, you who test the just, who probe mind and heart, let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause. Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!”

I would like to assure the Christians who face denouncement to remain resolute in the Lord because the Lord will surely protect his own as he did for Jeremiah.

Within the church, there are some people who are suffering quietly at the hands of others. Some people are suffering at the hands of their fellow priests and religious brothers and sisters. St. John of the Cross wrote his masterpiece Dark Night of the Soul in response to what his fellow Carmelite brothers subjected his life to. A similar account is given on how the Carmelite sisters treated St. Teresa of Avila. Some people are still suffering within their Christian circles.  In today’s Gospel passage, I read one of the best assuring passages from the Lord. The Lord states: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So, do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows…”

May our Mother Mary pray for us: I pray that those who are going through denouncement may receive consolation from our Blessed Mother while we beg our Mother to ask her Son to convert the hearts of those who denounce others in a painful manner.  OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP PRAY FOR US.