Poor Decisions

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary continue today to offer some reflection on our response to the situations we encounter in our daily journey. The Prophet Amos continues to find that the people of Israel have missed the invitation of God to remain faithful to the practices of justice and attention to the Law which had been a guide for them in the past. The political intrigue which encouraged deviation from religious practice and the disregard for the poor and marginalized in the society are exposed by Amos. The restoration of justice by God is to be expected. The people need to understand that the intervention of God through events prophesied by Amos is an appropriate and necessary process to restore the relationship with God. Barbara Dilly comments that the reaction of the disciples in the passage from the Gospel of Matthew to the storm is often similar to our handling of life’s problems with judgment of others and fear of our own shortcomings. The journey of our lives wanders away, at times, from trusting our relationship with God to be the guide for our decisions. Jesus is present in these storms to restore calm and peace to the chaos of doing it for ourselves in our way.