REVELATION TO THE CHILDLIKE
Homily for Wed of the 15th Wk in OT, 17 July 2024, Isa 10:5-7, 13b-16; Mt 11:25-27
Our first reading today is a grim warning to modern-day world powers who bully their neighbors. It is a good reminder for nations that have become economically prosperous and militarily powerful to the point of throwing their weight around, refusing to follow international laws, and behaving with arrogance and impunity like entitled pre-modern colonial masters, blatantly disrespecting the sovereignty of smaller nations. You can reread the same oracle of doom and judgment pronounced by Isaiah against Assyria two thousand eight hundred years ago, and replace Assyria with the names of modern-day imperialist nations and the message remains just as fresh as if it was meant exactly for them. They should be reminded of that famous saying that goes, “Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.”
In those times, it was the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and Egyptians who lorded it over the Ancient Near East. They had their own versions of megalomaniac rulers who behaved like the later Alexander the Great who established the Hellenistic empire that was eventually replaced by the Roman empire. Then came the Byzantines and the Ottomans. Where are they now? The monarchs of Spain and Portugal once divided the world between themselves, and the Dutch, the British, the French and the Italians also followed suit and enjoyed the benefits of plundering their colonies in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Europe had its later share of leaders like Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini and Franco. What has become of them? And who was it that said it was the “manifest destiny” of their mighty nation to expand its borders and occupy new territories? What is happening now to their great nation? Reread the oracle and fill in the blank space with modern-day world powers. (Isa 10:5-7,13-16)
“Woe to you (fill in the blank)! My rod in anger,
my staff in wrath.
Against an impious nation I send him...
To seize
