Am 7: 12-15; Aph 1: 3-14; Mk 6: 7-13
The prophet Amos was chosen by God to prophesy in the
difficult reality of the people of Israel (north Kingdom): the social inequality,
the injustice against the poor people and the use of the religion according to
the personal interests of the king. Besides the temple of Jerusalem (south
Kingdom) existed also the temple of Bethel, in time of the king Jeroboam II.
When Amos started his mission in that place, he met the priest of Bethel’s
temple, Amaziah, who made opposition against his prophecy. Amaziah is the kind
of person who is paid to maintain the structure of the temple and justify the
unjust system of the king. Before the mistreatment received Amos revealed the
reason and the motivation of his vocation. His mission of prophet doesn’t
depend on payment, but it is a free divine initiative and it is invitation to
gratuity.
The second reading is a hymn of thanksgiving to God who has
blessed us in Christ since the world began. Because his love we are his sons
and daughters. Through the mission of Jesus Christ we were freed from our sins
in order we develop our vocation to holiness. This vocation makes part of a
plan of wisdom and kindness of our God, who in Christ has chosen us to be his
own people. The Spirit of God helps us to live faithfully our vocation and
grant to us the fulfilment of his promises. According to second Vatican council
the holiness is universal vocation. All of us are called to this vocation. And
according to St John Calabria, we don’t need to do extraordinary things in
order to be holy. We can reach the holiness through the ordinary things in our
daily life. It is enough that our intentions to do anything may be holy.
After having been rejected in his hometown, Jesus continued
his mission in the villages round there where he was most welcomed. He could
perform his mission alone, but didn’t want. For that he called twelve apostles
as collaborators. Before sending them in mission, he proposed to them an
intense experience of life, taught them with the authority received from the
Father, shared with them his sensitivity in relating to the reality of sorrow
and suffering of the people; before them he acted with authority against evil
forces which paralyse the people, preventing them to participate integrally in
the society. Finally, he gave general instructions to them, especially about the
necessity of simple lifestyle and sent them two by two.
The initiative of the calling comes from Jesus. He didn’t
search for powerful or influential people in the society. He chose simple people,
workers and very sensible to the newness of God revealed by his Son. The contents
of the instructions given by Jesus follow a direction totally different of the
human mentality. In order to have success in their mission the apostles had to
overcome some human tends which are very present in our life: against the tend to act individually, we are
called to act together and to help one another in community for the good of the
community; against the tend to dominate, Jesus proposes to us his authority in
order to serve the people; against the tend to have possessions, Jesus proposes
the renunciation, the detachment; against the tend to impose, our announcement
is a proposal, proposal of conversion, of liberation, of change of life. We must
respect the freedom of the people.
The mission shared by Jesus with his apostles is curried on
actually for all of us, his new followers. It is fundamental the openness to
the divine inspiration in order we have motivation to assume the simple lifestyle
proposed by Jesus, with the same courage and conviction of Amos, even when find
opposition against our initiatives. The expectation of Jesus is that the
proposal of conversion which we announce to others may be expression of the
transformation that we have experienced through the meeting with his mercy. May
the gratuity and generosity be the constant characteristics of our mission so
that through us may God grant abundant life to all.
Fr Ndega
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