It is mercy I desire
by Fr. David M. Knight
July 5, 2024
Thirteenth Week of the Year Friday
Saint Anthony Zaccaria, Priest; USA: Saint Elizabeth of Portugal
Lectionary 381
Am 8:4-6, 9-12/Mt 9:9-13
Amos 8:4-12 is talking to people preoccupied with profits. Granted, we have to earn a living. But if we find ourselves thinking more about making money than about anything else, we need to think twice. If that is where our heart is, we are almost certainly separating ourselves from God’s heart. Even if we don’t rationalize and cheat, we are still losing concern for the effect of our business policies on the poor.
Amos says this will eventually bring economic disaster: “a famine upon the land.” But before that, it will cut us off from what nourishes our soul: “They shall wander from sea to sea... in search of the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it”—not because it isn’t available, but because they are not really seeking what it gives (see Wednesday above). Jesus says, “Seek and you will find; ask and it will be given to you; knock and the door will be opened to you.” But we have to seek with focused hearts. Isaiah told us the option:
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
Jesus said the first law of ministry in the Church is “Feed my sheep.”
Matthew 9:9-13 shows us Jesus doing just that. He made an “office call” on a tax collector, a group known to “trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land” by extorting more than was due. Matthew (then Levi) was following money. Jesus just looked at him and said, “Follow me.” That was all it took.
Matthew invited him to have dinner with him and a bunch of his extortionist friends. The Pharisees were shocked. They asked Jesus’ disciples (not him) “What reason can the Teacher have for eating with tax collectors and those who disregard the law?” We would say, “Why does he sit at the table of the Lord with those not in good standing in the Church, and share with them the bread of Eucharist?”
Jesus’ answer, then and now, is: “Those who are well do not need a doctor; sick people do. Go learn the meaning of the words, ‘It is mercy I desire....’”
In every Mass, Jesus is saying, “I have come to call, not the ‘righteous’ but sinners.” That is why, as Mass begins, we all introduce ourselves as sinners
I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts, in my words, in what I have done and failed to do.
Before Communion, we all say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” Who are we to exclude as unworthy anyone else who sincerely “seeks the Lord”?
Initiative: Obey Christ’s command: “If you love me, feed my sheep.”
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
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