The Homeric cycle of Greek mythology, plundered by Classical writers for story materials, again by Mediaeval writers for ideas, and still again by our contemporaries, who blow the dust off to retell them, speak of one character, the Trojan princess Cassandra, who told Apollo to take a hike and in return he "gifted" her with the ability to prophesy the truth, but on the flip side, no one would believe her, even with the evidence to the contrary staring them in the face.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, however, knows that not to be a "one and done" curse, but the actual human condition. In today's Gospel, He lamented that His people, His Father's chosen people, despite everything His Father's messengers the prophets proclaimed, despite everything Jesus Himself taught, would be ignored, and in return, not only had they killed the prophets, but He foretold they would do the same with Him.
St. Paul, likewise, in today's Epistle laments those who despite hearing the words of life actively oppose them. Like Our Lord, St. Paul sadly foretells that the prognosis is not good.
How often do we see this today in others? Oh, let's be honest, how often do we see this in ourselves? We know what is best for us, what the good path is, but again and again we either in stupidity or madness or worse make decisions again and again that are driven more by emotional knee-jerk reaction than rational and inspired deliberation? "Their god is the belly," St. Paul says, which means that the guiding principle of many is not the life-giving Word of God, but our passions, that is, our emotions, our instincts, our impulses. Not to say we must ignore them, but we cannot embrace them to the ignorance of the manifest Will of God.
Yet stubbornly we cling to our old ways and habits, running from crisis to crisis, ignoring the words of the prophets, the teachings of Our Lord, then wondering why things devolve so frequently into a hot mess. Instead, this Lent, let us turn and pay heed to these teaching, subjecting ourselves to Him, conforming ourselves to Him, and acting more like citizens of heaven that we are called to be.