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The 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 14, 2024

Watch this homily! (Begins at 27:25)


 
     God often calls unlikely people to do important work. The prophet Amos whom we heard from in our first reading is a good case in point. Amos was an unlikely prophet if ever there was one. He was a shepherd and, when not tending his flock, he did some moonlighting by tending sycamore trees - an odd job, to be sure, but it’s worth noting that sycamore trees produce a kind of fig that poor people in those days 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 prophesying – speaking on behalf of God - was the last thing Amos ever wanted. He knew it would only get him into trouble, and he was right.

     Prophesying is no picnic, and it certainly wasn’t for Amos because the word God gave him to speak was controversial and confrontational. It involved denouncing the sins of the King of Israel, Jeroboam, who had become decadent and unfaithful – shamefully unfaithful - to God’s Covenant. And it also involved exposing and railing against the sins of the wealthy who were oppressing the poor for their own gain. Who would want a job like that? Not Amos!

     And Amos’ fears were well-founded. In today’s reading he was unceremoniously dismissed, banished, sent on his way from the King’s sanctuary at Bethel. Such is the fate of prophets!

     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.” Another way of saying that they were to rely solely on God and God’s Providence - not on their own resources. 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 heads.

     Now I ask you: would you be inclined to sign up for that? Well, if I may speak for myself, I kind of like things to be predictable, dependable, and reasonably comfortable! I believe in God’s Providence but I also subscribe to the ‘God helps those who help themselves’ philosophy. In my better moments I want to “let go and let God,” but too often I think that I’m in charge.

     Maybe you can relate to that. If so, it’s good for us to get confronted – with today’s readings. If they 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 disciples and prophets. And that call comes before anything else we do in life – whether we’re nurses, engineers, school teachers, mechanics, lawyers, police officers, students, techies, janitors, 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, writer, and convert to Catholicism whose canonization I got to attend a few years ago in Rome. Cardinal Newman witnessed to his faith with every breath he drew, and time and again he suffered the trials that every prophet suffers. And most of the sufferings he endured came from the Church he loved – which makes these words of his all the more memorable:

    “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. 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 we got at our baptism. Sober thoughts for a mid-summer Sunday – sober thoughts for any day, but salutary thoughts, too. As we move to the altar to celebrate the Eucharist may we gain new resolve, new strength to embrace our call!

Father Michael G. Ryan

 

 

 

 

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