“WHAT I WANT IS MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE; KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, NOT HOLOCAUST” (Hos 6:6)

⏰Monday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (02 July 2018)

📖Amos 2:6-10, 13-16; Ps 50:16bc-17, 18-20, 21, 22-23 (R.v.22a); Matt 8:18-22

The prophet Amos is well known as a prophet of social justice. He was a simple farmer and shepherd from the tribe of Judah before God called him to prophesy in Northern Israel (cf. Amos 7:14-15). He was always crying out against the oppression of the poor.

In Amos 2:6-16, he spoke out against religious desecration. Many at that time claimed to be religious elites, yet they got involved in different kinds of immoralities and oppression of the less privileged. He would stop at nothing in condemning them.

I wonder what Amos would do if he were to be in the present day Nigeria where all kinds of evil go on even behind the altar. Many people who consider themselves as top placed men in the Church as clergy, catechists, Knights, church wardens, lay readers, choristers, etc. are the very ones who engage in worst kinds of atrocities in the society. Heads of different occults (secret societies) are communicants in our Churches.

We know these people, and like Amos, we are called to speak the word of God to them to repent.

As for the people concerned, when they fail to repent, this is the word of God for them, “I will crush [them] as a cart crushes when it is overloaded with sheaves” (Amos 2:13).

But God does not want the death of the wicked but they should turn from their evil ways and live (Ezek 33:11). That is why he is once again calling on us to follow him without looking back on all the affairs of the world that tend to distract us from focusing on him (cf. Matt 8:18-22).

As we begin this new week, may God give us the grace to uphold justice and shun immorality, so that we may live and be happy in the land.

Have a grace-filled week in the presence of Christ, the Sun of Justice. Peace be with you.