There might be a special providence that on the day when we as a nation celebrate our independence, the daily reading is taken from the prophet Hosea. Hosea spoke to his country of the need to reform. They were acting in ways contrary to God — oppressing the poor, warring with other nations, acting without… Read More »

A recent visitor to St. James asked if we were a Catholic Church. She was confused because the cross behind the altar did not have a corpus (the body of Jesus) on it as is customary in Catholic churches. (Our processional cross does have a corpus to honor liturgical tradition.) Our custom as a Missionary… Read More »

One description of the role of a prophet is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Amos certainly practiced the latter of those two tasks in the first eight chapters of the book that bears his name. He threatened, he cajoled, he condemned the society which was built on exploiting the poor and weak,… Read More »

In the early days of the ecumenical movement there was a saying, “Doctrine divides, service unites.” That saying is not exactly true. It is the doctrine of the incarnation — the Word becoming flesh in Jesus — that motivates our loving service to every human being.  But, as the prophet Amos protests, a lack of… Read More »

It never seems to be the prophet’s idea to begin their ministry. Isaiah protested, “I am a man of unclean lips.” Jeremiah complained, “I am too young. I know not how to speak.” In that tradition Amos described his vocation: “I was no prophet; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The LORD… Read More »

The Biblical evidence is that no one relishes the role of prophet. How much easier it would be just to care about oneself, what I am going through, instead of suffering the pain of others. God plants in the heart of a prophet this passion to make the world look at least a little more… Read More »

Prophecy is a major theme in the Old Testament. Elijah and Elisha are prophets who called Israel to a faithful worship of God. Nathan and Gad served as royal advisors to King David. Scholars refer to the prophets who left us something in writing as canonical prophets. The first of these is Amos. For three… Read More »

Summer time and the livin’ is easy, according to the song. We might be tempted to think that applies to the spiritual life as well. After the discipline of Lent, the triumph of Easter, the intensity of Pentecost you might think that we’re due a break, a time for a little less drama. Can’t we… Read More »