Thursday, June 30, 2022

 

Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Amos 7:10-17; Matthew 9:1-8)

Martin Luther King is revered today by almost everyone.  In his lifetime, however, he was reviled by many white people.  They saw him as a troublemaker and opportunist.  Although King predicted his assassination, people thought he enjoyed dictating terms to presidents.  King suffered the fate of prophets in Israel as today’s first reading makes clear.

Amos lived in the southern kingdom of Judah.  He was not trained as a prophet but as a horticulturalist when God called him northwards. There he denounced neglect of the poor as well as idolatry.  His prophecies made him undesirable in the eyes of the northern establishment.

We have need for prophets today.  Although every person who criticizes social structures does not speak on behalf of God, some point out genuine deviation from God’s will.  A true prophetic concern has arisen where state has allowed for physician-assisted suicide.  It is reported that in some hospitals the elderly sick are being encouraged to sign on for the procedure.  Suicide, like murder, is a grave disorder.  Assisting in it should be decried and prohibited.

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