Look to the End
by Fr. David M. Knight
July 1, 2024
Monday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Saint Junípero Serra, Priest
Lectionary 377
Am 2:6-10, 13-16/Mt 8:18-22
Amos 2:6-16: Amos is “a prophet of divine judgment, and the sovereignty of Yahweh”: He denounces:
Israel, whose injustice and idolatry are sins against the light granted to her. Israel could indeed expect the day of Yahweh, but it would be a day of darkness and not light. When Amos prophesied the overthrow of the sanctuary, the fall of the royal house, and the captivity of the people, it was more than Israelite officialdom could bear. The priest of Bethel drove Amos from the shrine—but not before hearing a terrible sentence pronounced upon himself....
[Amos kept] calling the people back to the high moral and religious demands of Yahweh's revelation. In common with the other prophets, Amos knew that divine punishment is never completely destructive .... The perversity of the human will may retard, but it cannot totally frustrate, this design of a loving God. The last oracle opens up a perspective of restoration....
Amos and Psalm 50 both sound relevant to our society. In daily life, there are too many areas in which we never think of God. God doesn’t have to “punish” us for this. Ignoring roots and destiny, Christ as Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, has its own, inevitable consequences. That is why, as stewards of Christ’s kingship, we work to make the world ready to be “gathered together” in a feast of total, universal, mutual reconciliation. This is the peace and unity of the “wedding banquet of the Lamb.” We ask for it when we pray, “Give us...the Bread; and forgive us.”
In Matthew 8:18-22 Jesus teaches dramatically how important it is to keep our eyes focused and hearts fixed on the goal of our existence. The “qualification test” for those who would follow him is a willingness to give the work of the kingdom priority over everything: from personal needs, even having a roof over one’s head, to the most expected family and social obligations.
“Let the dead bury their dead” tells us that for Christians, whose life is an experience and continuation of the resurrection of Jesus, funerals have a very different meaning than they do for those not “alive” by faith and grace. Christians don’t have any “dead” to bury. We put a body in the ground out of respect for what it was; but our attention is focused on what actually is: on the fullness of life into which our loved one has preceded us, and which we will enjoy together when we too have run our course to the finish line.
Death for us is just a reminder of the meaning of life—which has very little meaning if it ends when our physical framework is disrupted. We dealt with death at Baptism, when we embraced it, passed through it, and abandoned every other goal and desire in order to live our lives on earth as the risen body of Jesus.
Initiative: Respice finem: “Look to the end.” Live for what doesn’t die.
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
