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Ezekiel 36:16-18
New Catholic Bible
Ezekiel 36:16-18
New Catholic Bible
16 Restoration of the People.[a]This word of the Lord was addressed to me: 17 Son of man, when the people of the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it with their conduct and their deeds. In my eyes, their conduct was like the uncleanness of a woman during her menstrual period.
18 Therefore, I poured out my wrath upon them because of the blood that they had shed upon the land, and because of their idols with which they had defiled it.
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- Ezekiel 36:16 We reach here the high point of the revelation given through Ezekiel. God’s work consists in removing humanity from sin and making it one with himself as the center. This is truly grace, such that this work of God is essentially unmerited. It completely renews the links between God and his people or, better, between God and humanity (see Ezek 16:60; 37:26; Jer 31:31-34; Isa 54:10). The prophet sees the renewal taking the form of a grandiose liturgy in which cleansing water pours from the temple, which is God’s house and the center of worship (see Ezek 47:1-13). Humanity will then emerge from this liturgy with a new heart, a feeling heart; it will have a new spirit and share in the very Spirit of God. There could not be a more attractive prefiguration of Christian baptism.
