Reading 1, Amos 7:12-15

¹² To himself Amaziah said, 'Go away, seer, take yourself off to Judah, earn your living there, and there you can prophesy!

¹³ But never again you prophesy at Bethel, for this is a royal sanctuary, a national temple.'

¹⁴ 'I am not a prophet,' replied to Amaziah, 'nor do I belong to a prophetic brotherhood. I am merely a herdsman and dresser of sycamore-figs.

¹⁵ But took me as ...

Reading 1, Isaiah 6:1-8

¹ In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the seated on a high and lofty throne; his train filled the sanctuary.

² Above him stood seraphs, each one with six wings: two to cover its face, two to cover its feet and two for flying;

³ and they were shouting these words to each other: Holy, holy, holy is Sabaoth. His fills the whole earth.

⁴ The door-posts shook at the sound of their...

Reading 1, Hosea 14:2-10

² Israel, come back to your your guilt was the of your downfall.

³ Provide yourself with words and come back to Yahweh. Say to him, 'Take all guilt away and give us what is good, instead of bulls we dedicate to you our lips.

⁴ Assyria cannot save us, we not ride horses any more, or say, "Our God!" to our own handiwork, for you are the one in whom orphans find compassion.'

Reading 1, Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8-9

¹ When Israel was a child I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt.

³ I myself taught Ephraim to walk, I myself took them by the arm, but they did not know that I was the one caring for them,

⁴ that I was leading them with human ties, with leading-strings of love, that, with them, I was like someone lifting an infant to his cheek, and that I bent down to feed him.

⁸ Ephraim, how coul...

Reading 1, Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12

¹ Israel was a luxuriant vine yielding plenty of fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; the richer his land became, the richer he made the sacred pillars.

² Theirs is a divided heart; now they have to pay for it. He himself hack down their altars and wreck their sacred pillars.

³ Then they say, 'We have no king because we have not feared Yahweh, but what coul...

Reading 1, Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13

⁴ They have set up kings, but without my consent, and appointed princes, but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold, they have made themselves idols, but only to be destroyed.

⁵ I spurn your calf, Samaria! My blazes against them! How long it be before they recover their innocence?

⁶ For it is the product of Israel- a craftsman made the thing, it is no at all! The calf of

Reading 1, Hosea 2:16, 17-18, 21-22

¹⁶ But look, I am going to seduce her and lead her into the and speak to her heart.

¹⁷ There I shall give her back her vineyards, and make the Vale of Achor a gateway of hope. There she respond as when she was young, as on the day when she came up from Egypt.

¹⁸ When that day comes- declares Yahweh- you call me, 'My husband', no more you call me, 'My Baal'.

²¹ I sh...

“In him we have redemption … in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.” (Ephesians 1:7-8)

Imagine you have just arrived home after a long day and you fum­ble to unlock the door. When you step in the house you hear an erup­tion of voices calling out “Surprise!” The house is filled with family and friends, balloons, and more food than you’ve ever seen. Suddenly your plans for the evening have changed, and nothing else matters.

This ima...

“Do not be afraid.” (Matthew 10:26)

If Jesus were to ask you to do something, as he did when he sent his apostles out to preach and heal, it wouldn’t be unusual to find yourself suddenly afraid. Fear is a natural reaction.

Maybe you’re afraid because you’re having a hard time under­standing what he is asking of you. Or maybe you understand just enough to see potential difficulties or unpleasant consequences. Maybe you feel unprepared and unquali­fied, and s...

“Whoever endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)

There are times when life is a joy­ful sprint, when you sense the wind of the Spirit propelling you along. But there are other times when it feels like a hard slog down a barren, endless road.

If you’re facing the hostility that Jesus mentions in today’s Gospel, you may well feel worn and weary. You may also feel this way if you’re unemployed, deployed, disabled, caregiving, or working two jobs to ma...

“I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks.” (Hosea 11:4)

Those of us who have been loved and cared for by our parents have some understanding of what it’s like to receive love from God the Father. Yet we understand even more when we ourselves become parents. Jesus invites us to reflect on this when he asks: “What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? … How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spir...

“The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 10:7)

It’s no exaggeration to say that St. Benedict (480–547), whose feast we celebrate today, changed the course of history. At a time when Western society was falling apart, the monas­teries that followed his rule became oases of stability and hope. People were attracted by the monks’ peace­ful presence, and many decided to move to be closer to them. In some cases, whole towns sprang up around these centers of ...

“They were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36)

They may not be the most intelli­gent of all God’s creatures, but when it comes to the spiritual life, sheep do have some character traits in com­mon with us. Like us, they know that they depend on their shepherd for their provision and protection. Like us, they are capable of learning how to hear and follow their master’s voice. And again like us, they also tend to wander away f...

“I will espouse you to me forever. ” (Hosea 2:19)

Have you noticed how many businesses have begun to offer “24/7” service? This means that they will be available all the time, every hour of every day. The con­cept has become popular because people want to know that they can do their shopping any time they want or need to.

Well maybe this isn’t as new as we may think. After all, our heav­enly Father has been offering 24/7 help since the dawn of creation. Wh...

Reading 1, Ezekiel 2:2-5

² As he said these words the came into me and put me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.

³ He said, 'Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to the rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have been in revolt against me up to the present day.

⁴ Because they are stubborn and obstinate children, I am sending you to them, to say, "Lord says this."

...

Reading 1, Amos 9:11-15

¹¹ On that Day, I shall rebuild the tottering hut of David, make the gaps in it, restore its ruins and rebuild it as it was in the days of old,

¹² for them to be master of what is left of Edom and of all the nations once called mine -Yahweh declares, and he perform it.

¹³ The days are coming- declares Yahweh- when the ploughman tread on the heels of the reaper, and the treader of grapes on the...

Reading 1, Amos 8:4-6, 9-12

⁴ Listen to this, you who crush the needy and reduce the oppressed to nothing,

⁵ you who say, 'When New Moon be over so that we can sell our corn, and Sabbath, so that we can market our wheat? Then, we can make the bushel-measure smaller and the shekel-weight bigger, by fraudulently tampering with the scales.

⁶ We can buy up the weak for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals, and even get a p...

Reading 1, Amos 7:10-17

¹⁰ Amaziah the of then sent word to king of Israel as follows, 'Amos is plotting against you in the heart of the House of Israel; the country cannot tolerate his speeches.

¹¹ For this is what says, "Jeroboam is going to die by the sword, and Israel go into captivity far from its native land." '

¹² To himself Amaziah said, 'Go away, seer, take yourself off to Judah, ear...

Reading 1, Amos 5:14-15, 21-24

¹⁴ Seek and not so that you may survive, and Yahweh, Sabaoth, be with you as you claim he is.

¹⁵ Hate evil, love good, let reign at the city gate: it may be that Yahweh, Sabaoth, take pity on the remnant of Joseph.

²¹ I hate, I scorn your festivals, I take no pleasure in your solemn assemblies.

²² When you bring me burnt . . . your oblations, I do not...

Reading 1, Ephesians 2:19-22

¹⁹ So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors; you are fellow-citizens with the holy people of and part of God's household.

²⁰ You are built upon the foundations of the and prophets, and himself is the cornerstone.

²¹ Every structure knit together in him grows into a holy in the Lord;

²² and you too, in him, are being built up into a dwelling-place of ...

Reading 1, Amos 2:6-10, 13-16

⁶ Yahweh says this: For the three crimes, the four crimes of Israel, I have made my and not relent: because they have sold the upright for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals,

⁷ because they have crushed the heads of the weak into the dust and thrust the rights of the oppressed to one side, father and son sleeping with the same girl and thus profaning my holy name,

⁸ lying down besi...

Reading 1, Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24

¹³ For did not make Death, he takes no pleasure in destroying the living.

¹⁴ To exist -- for this he created all things; the creatures of the world have health in them, in them is no fatal poison, and Hades has no power over the world:

¹⁵ for uprightness is imm...

We tend to think of a “prophet” as someone who forecasts the future. Of course, some Old Testament prophets did know the future. But being a prophet is a much broader call to proclaim the good news of what God has done, and what he is prepared to do. When you look at it that way, it’s clear that we are all called to be prophets.

Does this sound scary to you? Don’t worry. You have the same Spirit ...

“I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel.” (Amos 9:14)

A young mother and father look on their newborn child, and they are filled with love. They have big dreams for this child’s future. Surely he or she will be the most lovely, the most brilliant, the most gifted of all children! Nothing else is possible, because this is their child, the result of their love for each other.

How much greater must God’s hopes and dreams be for our future! We are m...

“They shall wander … in search of the word of the Lord.” (Amos 8:12)

It’s hard to think of anything worse than a “famine” of the word of God. What if you lived in a country where you were forbidden to worship the Lord, own a Bible, or even speak the name of Jesus? Scripture tells us that something like this did happen to the Israelites of the Northern King­dom around 721 b.c. It seems that Amos’ prophecy was indeed fulfilled when the Assyrian army overran...

“I was no prophet.” (Amos 7:14)

When we get sick, have legal con­cerns, or want investment advice, we consult professionals with expertise in those areas. In a similar way, we may refer religious matters to trained specialists who have spent years studying theology and Scripture.

That’s what it was like in ancient Israel as well. Groups of profes­sional prophets worked together and even formed communities with each other. They supported themselves by providing ...

“They cried out to him.” (Matthew 8:29)

When Jesus entered the region Gadara, two men inexplicably ran toward him, crying out to him. It may have looked similar to the way the disciples had just rushed to Jesus and begged him to save them from a violent storm at sea (Matthew 8:25). But something was very different.

These two men were possessed by demons who saw Jesus as a threat to the hold they had over their victims. By contrast, the disciples saw him as the one...

St. Thomas

My Lord and my God! (John 20:28)

The apostle Thomas has an unfortunate reputation as the “Doubting Thomas.” For some of us, the first and only thing we remember about him is his statement: “Unless I see … I will not believe” (John 20:25). But earlier on, when Jesus told the Twelve that he was going back to a hostile Judea to help his friend Lazarus, Thomas rallied the other disciples to join him. “Let us also go to die with him” (11:16), he sa...

“Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.” (Matthew 8:22)

These words can make us cringe. Does Jesus really expect us to leave the corpses of loved ones to rot while we go off and follow him? Does he really want us to show such callous disregard for our families? Of course not. Jesus used extreme statements like this to make it clear that he wants us to take the call to follow him seriously.

Jesus wasn’t telling this fellow not to bury his father. How could h...

“He looked around to see who had done it.” (Mark 5:32)

Sometimes our prayer life can feel a little like a gumball dispenser. We put a quarter in the slot, turn the handle, and expect a gumball to drop out. If we say our prayers, attend church, or do good works, we may think we automatically receive God’s grace. We put in the time, and God dispenses his grace.

But God wants so much more for us! He wants prayer to be a time when we have a personal encounter with hi...