Twenty Fifth Sunday cycle C
09/13/2022
September 18, 2022
Amos lived in the eighth century B.C. He was a shepherd who was called by God to go to Israel and to speak in God's name to the people.
He spoke about the injustices that were done by the upper class against the poor and the helpless.
Every day God puts the poor and the helpless in the our midst. Do we see the poor in our midst as we go about our daily lives? It is so easy, yet when we are busy we don't even recognize them, but they are there.
It is not just the materially poor people, but it is also the people who are struggling with loneliness, rejection, and all other kinds of problems and they pass us many, many times everyday.
Do we go out of our way to make God present for all we meet throughout the day???
It can be a quick hello, or perhaps a smile or a nod of the head can make God present to those we counter.
Have you ever, when driving, just waved at a person walking on the street. Amazing. We seldom think about these little things that make God present for others. Of course there all kinds of ways to make God present, but our first step is to begin to recognize the poor we don't even recognize.
Saint Paul writes this letter to Timothy whom he has appointed to take charge of the church in Ephesus.
This letter was written in the year 65 or 66 A.D. and one of the things he tells Timothy is how important it is to pray for all of people.
That message is for all of us as we too, for we were called at our Baptism to pray for all. Perhaps on a certain day you might want to say a silent and quick, God bless you, for every person you encounter.
So simple but also so difficult to remember to do every now and then.
This practice can help us to more and more become aware of our call to pray for others.
Saint Luke gives us the words of Christ warning those who follow Him not become slaves of earthly things.
The parable tells us to use money and material goods to also help others. We might think that only applies to people who are millionaires but that is not true.
It is meant for all of us.
We can spend a lot of our time concerned about worldly goods but a question to ask ourselves is how much time each day do we spend using our material things including money to make God present for others. It is so easy to be so concerned for our self that we forget that through our baptism we are called to help others .
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