Three very interesting but complex readings this week.
The first reading was from the prophet Amos. Amos’ name in Hebrew means
“burden-bearer”—someone who carries a heavy burden. A very fitting name for a
prophet; God’s prophets often carried the burden of speaking difficult things to
those who don’t want to hear it.
The difficult thing that God called Amos to speak about in
the first reading was the religious hypocrisy of the Jewish people in that
stage of their history. A hypocrite is
one who pretends to be different on the outside than they are on this
inside. Like wearing a mask.
So Amos was sent to the Jewish people who were being very
hypocritical. They would go to Temple to
celebrate the Jewish Feasts—the claimed to be good and faithful Jews, all the
while they were cheating people with whom they do business. They were exploiting the poor, and tipping
the scales in their own favor.
God sent his prophet Amos, that being faithful to God isn’t
about putting on a good show on the Sabbath and then ignoring the commandments
the rest of the week. The Eye of God
sees to our inmost being. We can’t fool
God. So God sent Amos, not just because
he wanted the Jews to feel bad, but because he wanted to set them free from
their hypocrisy.
We thank God for the prophets he sends into our life to
speak the truth to us. Maybe it’s a friend
who tells us that we are being selfish, maybe it’s a parent who tells us that
we need to get our act together and focus on what really matters. We also pray that we may be prophets, to
speak the truth to others when the time is right.
In the Gospel, Jesus gives us this interesting teaching
about being trustworthy. He says, “The person who is trustworthy in very small
matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in
very small matters is also dishonest in great ones”
Jesus is continuing that same lesson from the prophet Amos. We
are called to be trustworthy, we are called to be free from that religious hypocrisy
that Amos was sent to heal.
People who are dishonest like to tip the scale in their
favor. They hate when people treat them
dishonestly, but they often justify taking the bigger portion for
themselves. They are quick to judge
others, while letting themselves off the hook.
Jesus is saying when we start justifying those little
dishonesties, we can end up in big trouble.
As children, little dishonesties with our parents, cheating here and
there in school, can develop into full blown habits when we are adults, to the
point where it is so easy to be dishonest, we might not even think about it.
Sometimes, like Amos’ audience, we act pious and holy in
public, but our private, interior life is another story.
The commandments of God aren’t just when other people are
looking. We need to be honest with God
even when no one is looking and no one will notice.
From time to time when I am hearing confessions for young
children, they will confess something like, “I got in trouble last week”. As if “getting in trouble”, as if “getting in
trouble”, “getting caught” was the sin.
I ask, well, what did you do to get in trouble. It’s not getting caught that we have to
confess, but the sin we tried to cover up.
Well, “I got caught stealing”. And I have to explain, “stealing from your
brother or parents or grandparents” is wrong, whether you get caught or
not. We just can’t steal just because
it’s unlikely that we will get caught.
Why do we do this? Why
do we hold others to higher standards than we hold ourselves? Why do we have this tendency to put on a mask
and pretend to be holier than we really are?
Because of our fallen nature, each of us has that tendency
toward sin. And just like Adam and Eve
in the Garden who tried to hide from God because of their shame, we have the
tendency to deny our sinfulness, and to pretend.
Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote that "Sin is an
integral part of the truth about the human person. To recognize oneself as a
sinner is the first and essential step in returning to the healing love of God”
Instead of pretending to be holy, the Lord calls us to
authentic holiness. But the beginning of
that road to holiness, is the acknowledgment that I am a sinner. That all too often I have served Mammon
instead of God. Meaning, I have served
myself, rather than God. But with that
humble admission, the way forward opens.
In the second reading St. Paul says, “It is my wish, then,
that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger
or argument.” That image of someone
lifting up his hands to God, is powerful, isn’t it. Lifting up his hands, why? That gesture symbolizes that God is the
source of the goodness that we long for, God is the source of the peace that we
long for, God is the source of the eternal life that we long for.
The priest makes that gesture many times during the
Mass. In the name of the Church, he
turns to God asking for the gifts that he promised, he lifts up his hands in
holy supplication.
I found it interesting that St. Paul said, “it is my wish,
then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands,
without anger or argument”. In the first
part of chapter two, Paul gives a specific instruction to the men of the
community. In the second half, Paul
gives an instruction to the women. But
Paul, addresses the men this week to be leaders in their families in prayer.
Recent sociological studies have shown that fathers have a very
important role in passing on the faith to their children. Though women are often shown to be the more
spiritual and religious of the two; a particular sociological study showed that
when a father goes to church it’s more likely that his children will go to church
when they are adults, vs. when it is just the mother who goes to Church.
Paul was acknowledging that it’s a great temptation for men to
not take spiritual leadership in their families seriously. But Paul is saying, lift up your hands, with
your families. A father who leads his
family in the prayer, going to Mass, going to confession, is of supreme value
to his family.
If the first reading and the Gospel show us that we have a
tendency to be hypocritical at times, the second reading shows us the way
out. Prayer. Let God transform your families and your
communities from the inside out. Let him
transform your hearts by taking prayer seriously. Lifting up your hands, turning your hearts to
God, every day, many times a day, allowing him to free us from those little
dishonesties.
If we are only seeking to serve the Lord on Sundays and
ourselves the rest of the week, we are serving not God, but Mammon. Rather, when we give the Lord our whole
hearts, our whole lives are put in his service, for the glory of God and
salvation of souls.
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