Thursday of the
Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Amos 7:10-17; Matthew 9:1-8)
The other day the journalist George Will made the news
himself. He announced that he was leaving
the Republican Party. He said that he
could not tolerate the nation’s leading Republican’s endorsement of Donald
Trump for the presidency. Will explained
that he still sees himself as a conservative but judges the Republican Party as
leaving conservatism behind. He may feel
like Amos in today’s first reading.
Amos has long preached reform in the Northern Kingdom of
Israel. He has tried to persuade the
king as well as the people to give up flirting with foreigners. He believes that salvation comes from the God
of Israel alone. Now he is being told to
return to the Southern Kingdom where he was born. He knows that Israel is rejecting the
principles which made them a chosen people.
We rightly talk about God as having unconditional love
for us. But this truth should not delude
us into thinking that we are free to do whatever we wish. God has given us His Spirit so that we may become
loving like He is. The Spirit often requires
sacrifice of personal desires to accommodate God’s ever-gracious will for us.
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