1st Reading Amos 5: 14-15.21-24
Psalm Ps. 50:7.8-9.10-11.12-13.16-17 (R. 23bc)
Gospel Matthew 8: 28-34
Happy New Month. Today, we enter a new month, the month of July. July, by way of reminder, is dedicated to devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ. Related to this devotion is man's demand for mercy and liberation. Let us, therefore, endeavour to start the month well, counting the blessings, appreciating God's love for man, and never disdaining God.
On the issue of not disdaining God, the first reading expresses excerpts from the first two woes against Israel. There are, however, three woes issued against Israel. V. 14-15 treats a sort of admonishment and an advise to choose that which is good and hate evil. In v. 21-24, Amos speaks of the rejection of sacrifices, offerings, feasts and songs. This is strange. What have the Israelites done?
In any case, a word appears in both sets of texts in our first reading. This is Justice (cf. v. 15 & v. 24). Why Justice? The book of Amos is basically about God's demand for social justice. The prophet Amos speaks of an era in which there was the prevalence of a sort of corruption, injustice, embezzlement, oppression of the poor and flight of capital.
Justice, St. Thomas Aquinas stated, is “a habit whereby a man renders to each one his due by a constant and perpetual will” (Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part, Question 58, Article 1). As a virtue, it has its principle of a good act. Amos tells us to choose good. Good proceeds from God. Choose God, then, and his ways. And this will be reflected in your relationship with everyone. Radiate compassion for the weak. Seek the common good. Good done today saves tomorrow.
The Gospel narrates Matthew's version of the healing of two Gadarene demoniacs. After identifying Christ as the Son of God, evil spirits pleaded to be driven into a herd of swine and Jesus acted. Why should Jesus respect the exact plea of the evil spirits? The area of Gadarene is known to have been occupied by Greeks and this may account for swine breeding in the area. With the Jewish disregard for Pigs, Jesus' act of casting out evil spirits (unclean) into a herd of swine (unclean) and the drowning of the possessed swine can serve to communicate a sort of environmental cleansing.
Jesus not only liberated the men, but also cleansed the environment of filth . For this, Jesus would have seen it a better option to kill two birds with a stone.
Pax et Bonum
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