Wednesday of the
Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Amos 5:14-15.21-24; Matthew 8:28-34)
The words of the "Pledge of Allegiance," which
many Americans proudly recite these days, end with an appeal for liberty and
justice. It’s important to keep in mind that the United States has enshrined
both virtues. Fairness in relations with
other is as much a part of the American heritage as freedom which the nation’s
founders risked life and fortune to attain.
The prophet Amos pleads for a similar justice in the first reading today.
Amos lives in the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II of Israel, the northern kingdom. Unfortunately, not everyone is thriving. The poor are often swindled of the little they have while the wealthy luxuriate. The story of Ahab and the poor man Naboth provides a sterling example although it occurred some seventy-five years before Amos comes on the scene. The prophet cannot help but speak out against the inequities. In a phrase echoed by Dr. Martin Luther King, he implores, “...let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.”
Amos lives in the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II of Israel, the northern kingdom. Unfortunately, not everyone is thriving. The poor are often swindled of the little they have while the wealthy luxuriate. The story of Ahab and the poor man Naboth provides a sterling example although it occurred some seventy-five years before Amos comes on the scene. The prophet cannot help but speak out against the inequities. In a phrase echoed by Dr. Martin Luther King, he implores, “...let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.”
As long as people cling to individual privileges and
claim rights that ignore responsibility, the justice to which Amos appeals will
be wanting. Jesus provides the key to
the only adequate response. He died so that
we might live in true freedom and complete justice. By modeling his self-sacrifice for the good of others,
Catholic Americans can assist their nation attain the ideals it espouses.
