BE CONSISTENT

Amos the prophet where today's 1st reading is taken, is not just a shepherd and dresser of sycamores. He is a herdsman, rancher and a wealthy person. He lives in the garrison city a place dominated by people of power who live in luxury. He lived in affluence and belonged to the clan system which is a guild or crusade to maintain the purity of the tradition of the temple (Ark of the Covenant). He was well educated,  and embraced the clan wisdom.  Although he experienced a luxurious life he was also aware of the injustice and plight of the people being a sycamore dresser who worked in close contact with the people. When God called him he was already aware of both worlds. And the Lord took him from what he was doing and summoned him to prophesy to the people. If I must say he came to a point when he no longer owned the choices and decisions he made. This, I guess is given once you take upon yourself the duty of a prophet much more the will of God in our lives over our own. This reminds me of what Atty. Moya said in his talk on Family and Social Morality which really makes sense in as far as what Amos did is concerned. He mentioned that there should be no confusion between authority and power or obedience and inferiority. Amos  clearly demonstrated to us obedience to God's authority over power and inferiority owing to the inappropriate situation he was in and status in life. Amos was able to differentiate the highest authority of God over the power of the priest of Bethel and his obedience which can never be taken as inferiority since he is also a man of power and wealth during his time. In the same way but definitely based in our present status in life, whoever, whatever, wherever and whenever, we are also being led to do something in response to God's call to apostleship. It should clearly be well established that our response is based on the authority of God and out of obedience. May we like Amos also get over our own personal idiosyncrasies and really get down to the real business of God. Let us not be deceived by the false misrepresentations of the world thinking that we can get away from our accountabilities or attempt to merge opposing worlds or acquire a little of both. It is either heaven or hell, God or Satan. There is no in between.  For no one is above or over, exempted or excluded from the power of God. He will see to it that justice is served. Amen. Hallelujah!

Amos 8:4-7

4 Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!...The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done!

No one can pretend to be innocent and blameless for our iniquities. We've got to set things right before we find ourselves lost in the deceptions of this world. God will never take things sitting down for He will see to it that those who call and truly follow and obey Him, the so called "poor of the Lord" those who fully depend on God's Providence will surely be lifted up and raised from the dust. God gave His only son as ransom for our sins to save us. Is there anything else He could have done that He has not done for our sake and best interest? God alone is worthy of our praise and worship. If we will just be open at all times to this truth that the psalm reading today tells us and realize the importance of always praising God in all circumstance and live it in our lives then we can be assured of the loving, protecting and caring gaze of God to be always on us. I love this prayer that I got from an email it says, "Stars do not struggle to shine; rivers do not struggle to flow, and you will never struggle to excel in life because you deserve the best. Hold on to your dreams and it shall be well with you. Amen." We simply have to keep on trusting that God will do for us what He has promised and said that He would do. There is nowhere to go but to God. If we are confident in God's Divine Providence and constantly and consistently pray for God's guidance and protection and decide to act at all times for His greater glory then there is nothing that should ever make us want for anything for God is in control, He provides for all our needs and knows what's best for us. Nothing is indeed by accident everything is under the will of God. We just need to always trust God in all circumstances that whatever happens, God will always make a way. It is important that we are always in touch with this reality and truth about our God who is Lord of lords and King of kings and gain confidence from it as if we are already seated and counted among the leaders of His people. That's the Spirit we should all have, a winner. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 113:1-2. 4. 5-6. 7-8

R: Praise the Lord who lifts up the poor.

1 Praise, you servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. 2 Blessed be the name of the LORD both now and forever. (R)  4 High above all nations is the LORD; above the heavens is his glory. (R) 5 Who is like the LORD, our God, who is enthroned on high 6 and looks upon the heavens and the earth below? (R) He raises up the lowly from the dust; from the dunghill he lifts up the poor 8 to seat them with princes, with the princes of his own people.

Paul's knowledge of Christ though he did not see him in the flesh is a revelation not of human origin but divine. If we are to read very carefully what he wrote in this letter to Timothy, we can see that he encourages all believers to be a people of God working to acquire a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This as he said can never be attained through anger and argument thus we all must be careful in conducting ourselves before other men and believers as to truly reflect the values of Jesus Christ. Amen. Hallelujah!

1 Timothy 2:1-8

Beloved: First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all. This was the testimony at the proper time. For this I was appointed preacher and apostle — I am speaking the truth, I am not lying—, teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.

We should dismiss this wrong notion that if we are holy and pure then we are automatically boring and dull. It is actually all up to us if we want to be this way. Being a child of light should come with all the goodness that goes with it. Instead of blowing out of proportion the real situation we should work our way out to become prudent. Prudence is the ability to make right decisions in complex situations, decisions that lead to the best and right thing. Without this we can be in big trouble. We’ve got to be able to decide in a situation that we’re in what the right thing to do which is the best thing to do. How do we get something done? There are some folks who probably just can’t figure out what to do. There are other folks who look at the problem and they can figure out a solution. It’s a core and they execute that core. It’s practical wisdom. We’ll find in the Book of Proverbs a lot of things about wisdom even in Sirach, Ecclesiastes and all the wisdom literature in scriptures. As the children of this world claim to be full of worldly wisdom so should we children of the light, if we believe and say so, should be full of heavenly wisdom and truly be smart and wise. In today's gospel, our Lord said that the people of this world are much smarter in their dealings with each other than are the children of light. This man was a scoundrel and he was a scoundrel all the way. His god was himself and his ideal was financial security and he served self well all the way. My dear friends what one has to say about this man and the people of this world and what our Lord is trying to get over to us is that they are consistent. Are we? We say we believe in God, not some vague deity above the tower but the God of love who took us out of nothingness in love. Who came down, died for us and sustains us in love. Who has destined us for an eternity of love? Do we really believe in Him? When trouble comes, we wring our hands and furrow our brows. We have sleepless nights and headaches. There is this little piece of doggerel, about the sparrow saying to the robin, “Do you really like to know what motivates those foolish mortals as they rush around and worry so? The robin responded to the sparrow, “I think that it must be they have no Heavenly Father such as one that cares for you and me.” In the official thanksgiving of the priest after mass every morning, there is the use of the Canticle of Daniel, when Daniel calls all creation to praise and worship God, the sun, the moon, the stars, the valleys and the hills. We can find this line that every bird in the sky blesses the Lord. Outside the window in New York where Fr. Leo Clifford lives, birds fly by very often. He said that sometimes one will alight in his window sill and peck the glass in the window to remind him that we neither sow nor spin nor gather into barn and our Heavenly Father takes care of the birds. How much more will He take care of us? We say we believe in eternity but if we examine ourselves, don’t we live as if time were to go on forever. One should think of the little flower saying that there had never been more than 3 minutes in her whole life when she was not thinking of our Lord with whom she was going to spend through eternity. When we say we believe in people that everyone of us is a child of God that we are going to be together in paradise do we realize how we treat people as our brothers and sisters in the Lord? Remember He told us that what we do to them, we do to Him. Sometimes we don’t like others because of our sophistication, because of their background, because of their lack of education. My dear friends we say that we believe in spiritual values, that it isn’t what we have but what we are inside. But look at the way we go to the mall and spend money and buy material things. Where is our conviction? Where is our consistency? Well, my dear friends all that we can do is keep trying and begin again. And then the poem and psalm that we say, after mass everyday is surely true. Oh God, You are my God. For You I long, for You alone my soul is thirsty. My body pines for You like a dry, weary land without water so I gaze on You in the sanctuary for Your love is better than life. On my bed, I remember You, on You I mused through the night for You had been my help, in the shadow of Your wings I rejoice. My soul clings to You, Your right hand holds me fast. Amen. Hallelujah!

Luke 16:1-13

1 Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. 2 He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ 3 The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ 5 He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ 7 Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.