On the First Reading from the Prophet Amos
'Certainly, as members of the Church, we should not stand apart from others. All should regard us as friends and neighbours, like the apostles, who “enjoyed the good will of all the people” (Acts 2:47; cf. 4:21.33; 5:13). Yet at the same time we must dare to be different, to point to ideals other than those of this world, testifying to the beauty of generosity, service, purity, perseverance, forgiveness, fidelity to our personal vocation, prayer, the pursuit of justice and the common good, love for the poor, and social friendship'.
Pope Francis, Christ is Alive, 36.
‘In today’s first reading from Amos, the prophet’s zeal for justice takes him to Bethel where his own people worshipped. By doing so, Amos was one of the first to connect our lives of worship to our commitment to justice – a connection made forcibly later by Jesus himself with cleansing of the Temple and by saints like John Chrysostom. Worship of God is giving God his due but leads to a commitment to social justice at all levels of Church and society. The Eucharist is not just a private affair but a dangerous exposure to the world’s need for justice, especially those suffering because of a lack of it. It challenges us to change and empowers us to effect the change that leads to justice.’
Fr Billy Swan
On the Second Reading from Ephesians
‘Today’s Second Reading from St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is a wonderful summary of the saving mission of the Gospel and its effects. One word from one line always strikes me: ‘Blessed be God the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with ALL the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ’. We have been blessed not just with some of heaven’s blessings but with all of them. Do we truly believe this? Part of our problem is that we struggle to believe that God has drawn this close and has been so lavish with the gift of Himself. Yet this is what love looks like. It doesn’t give itself by half but totally.’
Fr Billy Swan
On the Gospel:
'Complacency is seductive; it tells us that there is no point in trying to change things, that there is nothing we can do, because this is the way things have always been and yet we always manage to survive. By force of habit we no longer stand up to evil. We “let things be”, or as others have decided they ought to be. Yet let us allow the Lord to rouse us from our torpor, to free us from our inertia. Let us rethink our usual way of doing things; let us open our eyes and ears, and above all our hearts, so as not to be complacent about things as they are, but unsettled by the living and effective word of the risen Lord'
Pope Francis, Rejoice nd Glad, 137..
‘The whole of man’s history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day’
Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, 37.
On St Catherine of Siena’s fight with the devil: ‘Damnable woman! There’s no getting at you! If I throw you down in confusion you lift yourself up to mercy. If I exalt you, you throw yourself down’.
Dialogue, 66.
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