Weekly Reflection 091904AD

Sunday September 19, 2004AD

25^th Sunday in Greentime

Hit the Road , Amos (! or ?)

People like to have their hometown praised by visitors. We like to hear how nice everything is. Our noses get out of joint, however, if visitors have criticism to offer.

Such were the people of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, when a visitor from Judah came to town on business around 750 BC. Amos of Tekoa, the first of the prophets, whose message was written, had a lot to say.

Apparently, he had come to town for business. He was a shepherd and a herder. He did not like what he saw. He started off all right. His message was initially directed against neighboring nations to Israel and Judah. He criticized them for their brutality in warfare, for their violation of women, for other crimes as well. After going after 5 or 6 pagan nations, he speaks against his own nation, the Kingdom of Judah where people were packing the Temple on Mount Zion, but not living up to their obligations to their neighbors in the covenant that God had made with t hem.

Then, Amos goes full blast against Israel and he pulls no punches. He commented again on attendance at liturgies and the lack of correspondence in behavior toward those less fortunate. The Hebrew tradition always spoke of the triad of the widow, the orphan and the alien. Amos saw packed shrines and temples, but he saw a widening gap between the rich and the poor. He considered this a violation of their covenant responsibilities to YHWH.

In our own time, Catholics are reminded of the “preferential option for the poor”, a new term for an old Judaeo-Christian value, viz., ethical monotheism. God can be described as a loving grandmother. The grandmother loves all her grandchildren. She plays no favorites. However, if one of the grandchildren needs her special attention, she gives it, undividedly. In addition, she expects the other grandchildren to do the same.

Latin American theologians coined the term, “preferential option for the poor.” The biblical prophets, Jesus Himself and the Catholic tradition always subscribed to ethical monotheism.

In our own time, Pope John Paul II stresses again and again that Catholics and all people of good will are called to promote a culture of life, in which we become the voice of the silent and the helpless. Some have suggested, in contemporary America, that the widows are the single mother, orphans are children in single parent settings, aliens are homeless and undocumented. The first reaction of many in contemporary culture is that somehow, these people are responsible for their condition. Somehow it is their own fault that they have not made it.

Catholic tradition stresses that authenticity in worship of God is measured by commitment to all God’s children. Jesus, Amos and John Paul strongly agree. 091904AD jfq