The promise given from above through the prophet is unshakable: life will surely be reborn. But then, to our surprise, we discover that after all the cataclysms it must be built on entirely new foundations. It would appear that after the people failed to remain at the level set in the time of Moses, even a simple return to the original degree of walking before God would already have been an important achievement. Yet the Lord leads those who trust Him farther and farther, opening new horizons.

Now we hear words about personal responsibility replacing collective responsibility. This means that responsibility before the Lord is no longer mutual liability: each person must answer for his own deeds personally, and responsibility will not even be shifted onto descendants. The prophecy proclaims a radical shift in the understanding of the value and uniqueness of each person, helping humanity as a whole to mature.

But even this is not enough: these words serve only as a preface to the promise of a new covenant. The former covenant was broken unilaterally by people, but it was not canceled by the Lord Himself. Therefore the new covenant is not simply the abolition of the Old; it means that the proclaimed commandments will be inseparably inscribed into the very essence of the human being.

Can we say that we who live in the time of the New Covenant are already what we ought to be according to the prophecy? Such a claim would sound strange. But we are called to become exactly that, for the Lord gives each of us the chance to go to Him.

For a person living many centuries after the catastrophe of captivity and the return from it, brought up in an entirely different culture, it is not always simple to understand this exultant joyful news that "God will have mercy on His people." At times it is just as difficult to accept such ideas about God, who now destroys cities and villages in anger, now forgives them and returns them from captivity. But one way or another, we all live in this world, where the mystery of suffering is replaced by the mystery of salvation. And that means this exultation, this joyful round dance in which "old men and young men together" and in which "sorrow is turned into joy," can become an expression of our faith as well, of our knowledge that God loves us no matter what.

Today the prophet speaks of the future new covenant with His people. This covenant will be based on direct knowledge of the Lord, on personal faith, and on each person's personal responsibility before God.

This change of covenant from the old to the new does not happen automatically. If today we speak of ourselves as participants in the new covenant established through Jesus Christ, then unfortunately this does not mean that we have already grasped and embodied in life the New Testament principles spoken of in this prophecy of Jeremiah. Many Christians still live not by their own faith but by someone else's, saying: "I believe what the Church believes," or "Let the church leaders answer before God for all church problems." Every day we need to break through to our own heart, so that we ourselves love, believe, trust God, and take responsibility for ourselves and for our neighbors. This is incompatible with a consumer attitude toward God or toward the Church. It requires personal knowledge of God as a Person and of His will.