Today we hear a few words from our old friend Amos…the prophet Amos was outraged and ashamed of how the poor and the needy and the foreigners were being treated by the people of Israel. He condemned them for what we would call human trafficking and cruelty, hardhearted-ness and neglect of the poor.
The Book of the Prophet Amos warns that God would punish the people for their selfishness and obsession with becoming rich. A few chapters before the reading we hear today, Amos proclaims; “Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; then it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
Jesus also took up the topic of being obsessed with the accumulation of wealth…particularly when others were in such great need. Jesus warns us that we need to be “whole-heartedly” devoted to God and if we divide our heart between God and money we will lose out in the end.
Now the reality is that we all have to be concerned with making a living and providing for ourselves and our families. But how much is enough? At what point does “making a living” become focused on “getting rich” and then begin to take over all our time and thoughts and become the only measure of the success of our lives?
Being rich is not a sin…it is what we do or don’t do with what we have that can be sinful. Keeping God at the center of our lives will help us decide how to use what we have and with whom to share our wealth.
It seems the Gospel is calling us to reflect on our relationship to our “stuff” and our relationship to God and our relationships with others. To reflect on our relationship with the people of Ukraine, Gaza, South Sudan and Venezuela. To reflect on how we view the people who live in these distant places.
As individuals and as a nation we need to seriously reflect and reassess how we view and treat the unhoused and immigrants and refugees and those who are marginalized in our society because of their race, their gender, who they love or because of their social or economic status.
Christians throughout this nation need to reflect deeply on how our relationships to all of the afore mentioned peoples reflects our relationship with God and our living out our discipleship of Jesus Christ. And how that reality is being reflected in our political processes and policies and decision making at all levels of government!
What does my conversation with God sound like when I talk to God about how I truly, deep in my heart, view “the other”…those who are different than me? Am I open to God’s tender, transformative touch to keep my heart centered on the journey of becoming ever more fully the mercy of God, present in this wounded and suffering world?
Blessings on the journey,
Fr. Tim
The Book of the Prophet Amos warns that God would punish the people for their selfishness and obsession with becoming rich. A few chapters before the reading we hear today, Amos proclaims; “Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; then it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
Jesus also took up the topic of being obsessed with the accumulation of wealth…particularly when others were in such great need. Jesus warns us that we need to be “whole-heartedly” devoted to God and if we divide our heart between God and money we will lose out in the end.
Now the reality is that we all have to be concerned with making a living and providing for ourselves and our families. But how much is enough? At what point does “making a living” become focused on “getting rich” and then begin to take over all our time and thoughts and become the only measure of the success of our lives?
Being rich is not a sin…it is what we do or don’t do with what we have that can be sinful. Keeping God at the center of our lives will help us decide how to use what we have and with whom to share our wealth.
It seems the Gospel is calling us to reflect on our relationship to our “stuff” and our relationship to God and our relationships with others. To reflect on our relationship with the people of Ukraine, Gaza, South Sudan and Venezuela. To reflect on how we view the people who live in these distant places.
As individuals and as a nation we need to seriously reflect and reassess how we view and treat the unhoused and immigrants and refugees and those who are marginalized in our society because of their race, their gender, who they love or because of their social or economic status.
Christians throughout this nation need to reflect deeply on how our relationships to all of the afore mentioned peoples reflects our relationship with God and our living out our discipleship of Jesus Christ. And how that reality is being reflected in our political processes and policies and decision making at all levels of government!
What does my conversation with God sound like when I talk to God about how I truly, deep in my heart, view “the other”…those who are different than me? Am I open to God’s tender, transformative touch to keep my heart centered on the journey of becoming ever more fully the mercy of God, present in this wounded and suffering world?
Blessings on the journey,
Fr. Tim
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