The Book of Baruch is considered part of the Catholic Bible but not included in the Hebrew Bible (and hence the Protestant Bible.) It was written as a theological commentary on the situation of the Jewish people in exile in Babylon (587-539 BC.) Baruch writes in the form of a lament that the people are experiencing all of their troubles because they have not listened to God. “We did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God, in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us, but each one of us went off … and did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.” The afflictions they are going through are an invitation to repent and if they repent and heed the word of the Lord they will be blessed. What an important reminder that unless and until we are willing to confront and confess our sinfulness — personally, nationally and as a Church — we will never be able to be converted and become the new creation that God wants us to be. This struck me forcefully at a recent visit to the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. So many of the troubles in the United States are rooted in an unwillingess to face and a lack of repentence for our history of slavery and treatment of their descendents.
