July 05 - Friday - Famine of Hearing Word of God
Thirteenth week in ordinary time
Amos 8: 4-6,9-12; Matthew 9: 9-13
These two weeks the first readings are from
the book of prophet Amos. Prophet Amos is known as the prophet of social justice. He prophesied in the 8th century BCE, probably around 760 BCE, during
the reign of Jeroboam II. Amos was from southern kingdom of Judah but he was
commissioned to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Isarel (Ephraim, Samaria). We
see a missionary dimension in the call of Amos. Amos had to leave his home
place and go to another kingdom to prophesy.
Amose was not a professional prophet nor was he part
of the wealthy class. He was a poor farmer. Amos himself explains, “I am not a prophet, nor a prophet’s
son, but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees.” (Amos 7” 14-15). The
Lord makes use of anyone of his choice for his ministry, no human standards
applied. Amos was a poor man and so he knew the plight of the poor, possibly he
too was a victim of the some of the injustices done to the poor. He was able to
identify himself with the daily sufferings of the poor. Therefore, he is
sensitive to injustices and evil. He talks about the social injustices rampant from markets places to court. Consequently, Amos predicts of a spiritual famine.
We understand a famine as a lack of food or water, but
Amos speaks of a famine of the hearing of Word of God. The days are coming,
declares the Lord, when I will send a famine through the Land – not a famine of
food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the Words of the Lord (Amos
8:11). This is a severe punishment. People seek the Lord and do not find him.
People long to hear the Word of God and do not hear. God’s word and His face are
hidden from people.
The social and religious injustices are rampant today. To some degree, the famine of God’s word is with us
now. We hear lots of sounds of Word of God – do we hear word of God? We have
lots of means to access Word of God – do we have the presence of Word of
God? We have more preachers than ever before – do they preach the word of God
or their own words and interpretations under the pretext of Word of God? We
have more preachers today but lack practicing preachers? We have more spiritual
persons but lack spirituality? We have more religious persons but lack religiosity?
Our Take Away
Do I contribute to this famine?
Wilson SVD
Divine Word Missionary
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