The prophet Nahum was likely writing in the seventh century, B.C., after the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians. The prophet says that the shoe will soon be on the other foot and Assyrian will be destroyed. This prophecy came true when the Babylonians razed Nineveh in 612, B.C. God is interested and involved in world affairs. In the gospel Jesus tells us: “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” It is one’s personal conversion, one’s individual response to word of God that makes all the difference. We are saved as unique individuals, not as collective. Faithful people, therefore, live with a tension. On the one hand we are concerned about issues of justice and the common good. On the other hand, we will answer to the throne of grace for our particular response to the invitation of God. We must live in that tension of the individual and communal aspects of a life of faith.
