1 Jul 2022
A Famine of the Word
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For 1 July 2022, Friday of week 13 in Ordinary Time , based on Amos 8:4-6, 9-12
Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, ‘When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
and practise deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’
On that day, says the Lord God,
I will make the sun go down at noon,
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on all loins,
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
and the end of it like a bitter day.
The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,
when I will send a famine on the land;
not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
but they shall not find it.
Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
02 July 2022 @ 12:03 am
Thank you Ann.
02 July 2022 @ 1:55 am
Dear Ann,
So grateful for your insights and reflections on the readings today. I especially appreciate the
thought that “Absence of words is not the absence of presence†and the story goes on in our lives as it did for Amos. Our loving God is with us now and always. God bless your preaching!
Sincerely,
Sr. Brigid
07 July 2022 @ 1:02 am
Yes, thank you, Ann. You remind us – as in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd – that words in and of themselves can ring hollow and are never a substitute for presence. Blessings in your sojourn with Florida catechists. Ruth Leigh