July 11: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I: Amos 7:12-15
Responsorial Psalm:85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14
Reading II: Ephesians 1:3-14 or 1:3-10
Gospel: Mark 6:7-13

Ever speak of really important news only to have the person you’re speaking to change the subject or gaze off into space? Or worse, were you shouted at, scolded, and sent away? That is what happened to Amos, a prophet. Today, the whole Church hears about Amos being rebuked. We learn to let abuse roll off our backs but not shut us up when God calls who God wills. We learn from Amos how to keep on doing what the late prophetic congressman John Lewis called “good trouble” to address real troubles. It does us good to hear what happened to Amos.

Amos, in humility, had no desire to be a prophet, no desire to leave his sycamore trees and travel north where he criticized people who observed external rituals with care but ignored injustices! He was empowered by God to warn Amaziah of his false and hypocritical ways. Amos asked for nothing for himself; he simply proclaimed God’s message to people of the covenant who were degrading their covenant with God.

The proclamation of God’s will is the theme of all of our readings today. The letter to Ephesians is a blessing to the whole church then and now, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.” We’ve each been chosen, adopted, forgiven, given purpose, and sealed with the Holy Spirit to be the People of God through whom Christ brings all things into oneness in Christ. Whoa, we don’t see many signs of that occurring in our sorely troubled world. We see and hear derision, division, and disparity as the super-rich get richer and poor people grow poorer. Essential workers are not all paid a living wage! Documented systems analysis shows super-rich leeching from networks of production that feed on the workers who struggle to buy groceries and pay rent. Some workers are deemed replaceable and expendable; they’re worked hard for long hours in unsafe working conditions in meat plants in the USA. We did not think that could happen here! Amos, in his day, prophesied destruction for such oppression, “the high places shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries laid waste” (Amos 7:9). All we need to counter evil is to say something and do something, each in our unique way. Members of our faith community listen to people who are poor, work with them, call the super-rich who pay no taxes to pay their fair share and believe in one another as members of the Body of Christ, the People of God. They remind me of the San Isidro community in Rome, Italy who in 1968 and still today meet in small groups to pray with scripture. That sustains them to run soup kitchens in poor neighborhoods in every nation in the world. Today the average age of a San Isidro community member is thirty! The power of praying together with scripture is wondrous!

Our readings and the needs in our faith community keep on nurturing us to be who God calls and gifts us to be, the People of God with Christ as the uniting force of the Church. Whether we feel it or know it or not, we are destined to embody and reveal the gracious, lavish love with which God made us sons and daughters of our Creator, the Father of our brother, Jesus.

Today’s gospel gives us a model for carrying out the mission of Jesus. We’re not to be overwhelmed by forces of evil (unclean spirits) and we’re not to pay overmuch attention to ordinary needs like food and clothing. We’re to travel light. And most importantly, we’re not to waste time where people refuse to listen to Good News of people and policies addressing bad news. In our spiritual ancestors’ history, refusal to listen to God, who spoke through prophets like Amos, resulted in downfall and exile.

Jesus’ first followers proclaimed a call to repentance. In the original language, repentance meant a complete about-face in perceiving and acting. Prophets then and now speak for God; they receive a divine directive to coax people to turn their lives around. And the truth is we’ve all been baptized into Jesus’ prophetic ministry. Yup, each of us. How are you changing to be the change you want? What needs changing? Who will you call? To whom will you write? What good news will you share? What bad news have you ways to make good?

~Dr Deni Mack, Pastoral Associate Emerita