God
often calls unlikely people to do his work. The prophet Amos whom we
heard from in today’s first reading is a good case in point. Amos was an
unlikely prophet if ever there was one. He was a shepherd and, when he
wasn’t tending his flock, he did some moonlighting by tending sycamore
trees (an odd job, to be sure, but sycamore trees, if properly cared
for, produced a kind of fig that poor people ate for nourishment). So,
sheep and sycamores were Amos’ world – until the day God came up with a
whole new line of work for him, much more demanding than herding sheep
or tending trees. God called him to be a prophet, and being a prophet –
speaking on behalf of God - was the last thing Amos ever wanted. He knew
it only would get him into trouble, and he was right. Prophesying was no
picnic.
That’s
because the word God gave him to speak was controversial and
confrontational. It involved denouncing the sins of the King of Israel,
Jeroboam, who, in his decadence, was egregiously unfaithful to God’s
Covenant. And it also involved exposing and railing against the sins of
the wealthy people of Israel who were oppressing the poor of the land
for their own gain. Who would want a job like that? Certainly not Amos,
that’s for sure!
In today’s reading we
heard him being unceremoniously dismissed, banished, sent on his way
from the King’s sanctuary at Bethel.
In the gospel we came
face-to-face with yet another prophetic call – the call Jesus gave to
the Twelve when he called them together and sent them out two-by-two to
preach and heal, and to stand down the power of evil. The call of the
Twelve, not unlike the call of Amos, was a daunting one. They were to
journey far and wide but they were to take nothing for the journey -
nothing but a walking stick and a pair of sandals – “no food, no sack,
no money in their belts.” In other words, they were to rely solely on
God’s Providence - not on their own resources or possessions. God was to
be their security, not satchels loaded with food and provisions, and not
money in their belts. But it didn’t stop there. They were not even to
have the security of a house to live in or a place to lay their head.
Now I ask you: Would you
sign up for that? Well, speaking for myself, I kind of like things
to be predictable. And dependable. And reasonably comfortable! I
certainly believe in God’s Providence but I also incline to the
philosophy of ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ In my better
moments I want to “let go and let God,” but too often I want God to let
me be in charge.
Maybe some of you can
relate to that. If so, it’s good for us to get faced – confronted – with
readings like today’s. If the readings shake us up a bit and get us
thinking, if they make us vaguely uncomfortable – or even quite
uncomfortable – with where we are in life or what we’re doing or not
doing, that’s probably good.
My friends, each of us
at our baptism was given a call – a call not unlike the one Amos
received; not unlike the one the Twelve received. We were called to be
prophets and disciples. And that call comes before anything else we do
in life – whether we’re engineers or nurses, school teachers or
mechanics, lawyers, students, or techies, janitors or doctors,
homemakers or accountants. Before any of that comes our call to witness
to our faith. Sometimes we do it by what we say; more often we do it by
what we do and how we do what we do. But no matter what it is we
do in life, our baptismal call comes first. And sometimes that call will
get us into trouble – as it did the prophet Amos – and sometimes it will
even mean letting go of just about everything, as it did for the Twelve.
One of my heroes who
lived out his baptismal call with great fidelity was Saint John Henry
Newman, the great 19th century theologian and writer whose canonization
I got to attend a couple of years ago. Cardinal Newman witnessed to his
faith with every breath he drew and time and again he suffered the
trials that every prophet suffers. Here are some memorable words of his:
“God has created me to
do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He
has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know
it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next…. I am a link in a
chain, a bond of connection between persons. God has not created me for
naught. I shall do good, I shall do God’s work; I shall be an angel of
peace, a preacher of truth in my own place…if I do but keep the
Commandments. Therefore, I will trust God. Whatever, wherever I am. If I
am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity
may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. God does
nothing in vain.”
It is true, my friends.
God does nothing in vain – beginning with the call he gave us at our
baptism. Sober thoughts for a mid-summer Sunday, but salutary thoughts,
too. As we move to the altar to celebrate the Eucharist may we
gain new strength to embrace our call.
Father Michael G. Ryan
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