R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord is not happy with his people, according to the prophet Amos, and intends to wreak havoc upon the nation. The people will be crushed, the swift will grow weary, the strong will grow weak, the warrior shall die, and having a swift horse will not save you from destruction. Why? Because of the nation’s crimes. They must be doing some terrible things. Actually, if you listed those crimes for folks today, most people would scratch their heads and say, “Crimes? You consider these things crimes?” Taking advantage of the poor, father and son going to the same prostitute, using God’s name in vain, keeping a person’s down payment (not returning a garment given in pledge at the end of the day and, thus, making the person sleep without a covering), and having a party using the money taken by extortion - those are the things that God calls crimes? Then we live in a criminal society that actually calls some of these things legal.
The fact that these things are done in Israel is not even the Lord’s biggest concern but that these are some of the things that were being done by the people that God removed from the land to make room for Israel. To God, only a people who forget what God had done for them could do such things. No doubt, they had forgotten God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The psalmist calls upon the people to remember God. In the final section, the psalm says, “Consider this, you who forget God.…” It is not that the people do not recite God’s teachings and profess his covenant. It is that these things have no meaning to them; they speak idle words. Then, as if they think that God is blind or does not care, they go right out and do despicable things - theft, adultery, gossip, and character assassination. They just assume that God is like them - he says wonderful things but does not care what we do. They cannot imagine a God who wants praise and right living.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
In the Gospel Jesus is approached by people who say that they want to follow him but either do not realize what sacrifice this requires or have a “but” that keeps them from acting now. “But let me first” is not acceptable to Jesus. Nothing is more important than following him, even something as important as burying a parent, a practice considered to be one of the most important things you can do in Jewish society. For Catholics, burying the dead is one of the corporal works of mercy. Jesus’ point is simply that THE most important things in life cannot come before following him. As soon as we say, “Jesus, I will follow you but”…then we have turned away from being his disciple. As in Amos and the psalm, words are important but they must be backed up with right action.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
George Butterfield
I served as the Legal Reference Librarian at the Creighton University Law School Library from August, 2007, until August of 2017. I also taught Legal Research to first year law students and Advanced Legal Research to second and third year law students. In August of 2017 I took the position of Director of Evangelization and Catechesis for the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, and served in that capacity until Covid hit and the church staff was cut in half. Recently I took a position with the St. Gerald Catholic Church in Omaha, Nebraska, and my wife and I moved back to the Omaha suburb of Papillion.
My wife, Deb, and I have been married since 1970. She grew up in Oklahoma City and I migrated south from southwestern Pennsylvania. God has blessed us with three children, four living grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. I spent the first thirty years of our marriage as a minister so our family moved a lot. We have lived in several states, including Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and California.
I enjoy walking, reading, listening to audio books, playing with my Pekingnese, Max, my Maltese-Schnauzer, Blaise, and seeing my grandkids grow up. I am a Catholic deacon, having been ordained by Archbishop George Lucas on May 5, 2012.
There is nothing to compare with reflecting on scripture. I feel privileged to participate in these daily reflections. Although we don’t know whether or not St. Francis ever said it, one idea associated with him is that we preach the gospel always and, when necessary, use words. May these reflections be gospel words, good news, of our gracious Lord Jesus Christ.
