Ezekiel is the prophet of the exile. A contemporary of Jeremiah, his family was prominent enough that they were deported to Babylon in the first wave — ten years before the final destruction of the temple and city. It was not until he was fifty years old that he received the prophetic call. He was to deliver a message of “lamentation, wailing and woe” to the people of Israel — not a very attractive job description! But God literally sweetened the pot. “Fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.” Often what God asks of us is difficult but the promise is that fidelity to the divine Word fills us with delight.
