They Have Dug Unto Themselves Dry CIsterns

Homily for Saturday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time

Jeremiah stands before powerful men who want him silenced. His only defense is the truth God placed in his mouth. And remarkably, some of those listening recognize that truth and protect him. Jeremiah reminds us that faithfulness does not guarantee ease, but it does guarantee God’s presence. Even when the prophet is surrounded by hostility, the Lord raises up those who defend him.

Psalm 69 is our response again today and gives voice to the experience he faced from the courtiers. They threw him into a cistern a little later in his ministry, and that experience seems to fit the first verses of this psalm. “I have sunk into the mire of the deep, where there is no foothold… Answer me, LORD, in your generous love.”It is the prayer of someone who is tired, misunderstood, and under pressure—yet still confident that God sees, God hears, and God saves.

In Matthew’s Gospel, John the Baptist pays the ultimate price for speaking truth. Herod fears him, Herodias hates him, and the world tries to silence him. Yet Jesus calls John the greatest born of woman. John’s death is not defeat—it is witness. It shows that the cost of truth is real, but the value of truth is eternal.

On this memorial, St. Alphonsus Liguori stands beside Jeremiah and John as a gentle but courageous teacher of truth. He faced misunderstanding from the members of his community, suffered from illness and discouragement, and faced rejection later in life, even from within the Church he loved. His cistern was a spiritual one rather than the literal one in Jeremiah’s experience. Yet he persevered with humility, compassion, and clarity. His preaching, his moral guidance, and his devotion to the Blessed Mother were shaped by one conviction: God’s mercy is stronger than human weakness.

May St. Alphonsus teach us to trust God’s love, speak God’s truth, and walk God’s path with courage and gentleness.