LEFT AND RIGHT SHARE
A COMMON ANXIETY
It’s not necessarily obvious why particular Mass readings fall on particular days. I often scratch my head wondering, “Who planned all this?”
But sometimes the scripture selections can be unexpectedly pertinent. In fact, they can be so timely and on target that they have a prophetic feel.
Such was the Old Testament reading for July 4th.
The passage is a call for the Prophet Amos to be banished from Jerusalem over his prediction that King Jeroboam…
“shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land.”
As you would expect, this was a most unwanted message at the time…
“Your wife shall be made a harlot in the city, and your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword; Your land shall be divided by measuring line, and you yourself shall die in an unclean land; Israel shall be exiled far from its land.”*
Now that’s a real downer if ever there was one.
Things were bad in the Kingdom of Israel. They were going to get worse. And bringing it up made no one happy.
Somehow the passage captures a feeling shared widely on this Independence Day. A pall of gloom hangs over our nation.