The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today connect with my personal questions concerning pursuit of good, truth, and beauty by doing ceremonial things, the psychology of being driven by forces beyond our strength, and seeking the balance in relationship by listening more than speaking.
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| QE II hospital |
The reading from the Prophet Amos urges us to seek good not evil as he shows the people’s attempt to offer worship with hands unclean from oppression of their fellow Israelites.
* [5:21–27] The prophet does not condemn cultic activity as such but rather the people’s attempt to offer worship with hands unclean from oppression of their fellow Israelites (cf. Ps 15:2–5; 24:3–4). But worship from those who disregard justice and righteousness (v. 24) is never acceptable to the God of Israel. Through the Sinai covenant the love of God and the love of neighbor are inextricably bound together.1
Psalm 50 declares the acceptable sacrifice to God is a sacrifice of thanksgiving. “ For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.”
* [Psalm 50] A covenant lawsuit stating that the sacrifice God really wants is the sacrifice of praise accompanied by genuine obedience (cf. Mi 6:1–8). It begins with a theophany and the summoning of the court (Ps 50:1–6). Then in direct address God explains what is required of the faithful (Ps 50:7–15), rebukes the hypocritical worshiper (Ps 50:16–21), and concludes with a threat and a promise (Ps 50:22–23; cf. Is 1:19–20).2
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Heals the Gadarene demoniacs who cry out “ What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
* [8:29] What have you to do with us?: see note on Jn 2:4. Before the appointed time: the notion that evil spirits were allowed by God to afflict human beings until the time of the final judgment is found in Enoch 16:1 and Jubilees 10:7–10.3
Ed Morse comments on people who claimed to be following God by doing ceremonial things, but their basic commitment to “seek[ing] good and not evil” required attention.
Like those demons, these townspeople recognized Jesus’ authority. They saw evidence from miraculous signs in which savage men were calmed and restored. But the local swine herd was decimated. Unlike other healing miracles, this miracle had also imposed costs. Surely other townspeople needed healing and restoration! But I think the townspeople worried about what other costs might be imposed if Jesus remained.
Amos’ admonition stings me. Doing ceremonial things is easier than following the inner witness to seek good and avoid evil. I also share the Gadarenes’ wariness of the Lord, keeping him at a distance because I fear what it might cost me, without recognizing that he alone is good. When we sin by suppressing the anamnesis, we deform our inner selves. Thanks be to God that the inner sense He implanted within us is still there, making us uncomfortable with our bad choices, drawing us to repentance!
God is good. He leads us to life in which truth, beauty, and goodness abound. The way of sin deforms us, keeping us burdened and in chains. Come near, Lord Jesus. Heal and restore our inner selves. Help us seek after you, who alone embody all that is good. Thanks be to God.4
Don Schwager asks in meditation: do we ever feel driven by forces beyond your strength? Two men who were possessed and driven mad by the force of many evil spirits found refuge in the one person who could set them free. Both Mark and Luke, in their Gospel accounts of this incident, describe this demonic force as a legion (Mark 5:9 and Luke 8:30). A legion is no small force but an army 6,000 strong! For the people of Palestine who were often hemmed in by occupying forces, a legion - whether human or supernatural - struck terror! Legions at their wildest committed unmentionable atrocities. Our age has also witnessed untold crimes and mass destruction at the hands of possessed rulers and their armies. Schwager quotes “Christ is triumphant over the forces of demons,” by Peter Chrysologus (400-450 AD).
"[Jesus] said to them, 'Go!' The foul-smelling animals are delivered up, not at the will of the demons but to show how savage the demons can become against humans. They ardently seek to destroy and dispossess all that is, acts, moves and lives. They seek the death of people. The ancient enmity of deep-rooted wrath and malice is in store for the human race. Demons do not give up easily unless they are forcibly overcome. They are doing the harm they are ordered to do. Therefore the foul-smelling animals are delivered up that it may be made clear to the demons that they have permission to enter the swine but not to enter humans. It is by our vices that we empower them to do harm. Similarly, by our power of faith we tread on the necks of demons. They become subject to us under Christ who is triumphant." (excerpt from SERMONS 16.8)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Amos 5:14-15, 21-24 comments that Frédéric Ozanam (1813–1853) and his companions founded the Society of St. Vincent de Paul as a way to promote acts of charity and spiritual renewal among Catholics. New chapters quickly opened, and they soon spread beyond the borders of France. What began as a trickle eventually swelled into a network of thousands of streams flowing around the globe.
Right now, try to imagine Jesus’ love for everyone who is suffering. Let that love soften your heart and break down any barriers of comfort and indifference within you. Picture Jesus’ mercy flowing like a gentle stream toward the homeless woman living under a nearby bridge or a local couple grieving a miscarriage.
If you don’t know how to help, just be present. Listen more than you speak. Then see where it leads. Even small acts of mercy can grow into something powerful. Frédéric believed that when we sit with the poor, feel the same cold that pierces them, and listen, justice will surge like water within our hearts.
“Lord, let your love for the poor surge within me.”6
Friar Jude Winkler touches on the vertical and horizontal aspects of faith in the text from Amos who is seeking the good and dignity for brothers and sisters. He opposes superficial Hour of the Lord does not represent justice to widows and orphans. Friar Jude comments that pigs killed demons in pagan territory (In Mark 1 demoniac and 2 demoniacs in Matthew) as the same story in two different communities.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that despite many differing views of Jesus’ life and teaching, we can say confidently that Jesus was a poor man who fully embraced life with those on the margins of society. Francis of Assisi certainly did the same, and it became his litmus test for all orthodoxy and ongoing transformation into God. Clare of Assisi (1194–1253) wanted to imitate Francis in this. She and her sisters, the Poor Clares, have kept the vow of poverty much better than some Franciscan friars have done. Today, Bridget Mary Meehan helps us understand how radical simplicity helped Clare and her sisters come to a singleness of focus and heart.
Through the centuries Clare has continued to be a beacon of light to women and men who long to love Christ with an undivided heart, to serve others generously, and to live simply in a world that glorifies material possessions. If we have too many clothes in our closets, too much money in the bank, too many things cluttering our lives, Clare can help us find the one thing necessary—God who will liberate and fill our emptiness with divine love. Our conversion process may take time—sometimes years—but we will experience freedom and joy when we live with a loose grasp on material things, when we are willing to share our possessions as well as our time and energy with those in need.7
My recent thoracic surgery exposed me to another opportunity to consider empathy as a primary “seeking good” component driving action in humans (and many mammals). Recent hospitalization has reinforced my conviction that thanksgiving is the gift of God that centres our love and healing of our whole person, physically, psychologically, and spiritually in the pursuit of God for the greater good.
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