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Woe to the complacent in
Zion, who enjoy a luxurious life but do nothing about the collapse of Joseph. What is the prophet Amos speaking about in today’s
first reading? What does he mean by the complacent in Zion? The word complacent is defined as smug and
uncritically satisfied with oneself or one’s achievements. The complacent in
Zion enjoyed their lives and were only concerned with themselves. They were
like the rich man of the parable in today’s Gospel. He enjoyed his life, but he
was completely detached from the needs of anyone else. He saw the poor beggar,
Lazarus, at his door, but he did not even consider the man’s plight. He did not
recognize the responsibility he had towards anyone else.
Amos accuses the complacent in Zion of doing nothing about the collapse
of Joseph. The Joseph he is
referring to here is not Joseph, Jesus’ foster father. Nor is the Joseph
referring directly to Jacob’s son Joseph who was sold into slavery by his
brothers. No, Joseph here refers to that group of the Hebrew people who trace
their lineage through the Patriarch Joseph. By the time of Amos the Northern
Kingdom was often referred to as Israel, Ephraim or Joseph. The complacent in
Zion are all the Hebrews who do not care what is happening to their fellow Hebrews
as a nation or as individuals. They are like the people who saw what dictators were
doing and did not care what their countrymen were suffering nor the direction
their country was going as long as they could keep their luxuries. They are us
when we are not concerned about our national disgraces of abortion, and
legalized sexual promiscuity, as well as when we are indifferent to attacks
against the poorest people in the country, the plight of the homeless, the
concerns of the mentally and physically challenged, etc.
We, Catholics, don’t help others only because this is
a good thing to do. We don’t help others because we have plenty of extras in
our lives. Our generosity is not to get rid of our excess, our surplus. We help
others because we are Christians! We do what the Lord is calling us to do when
He said, “Follow me.” We are not merely humanitarians, respecting others
dignity as human beings. That is wonderful, but we are more than humanitarians,
I mean, we reach out to all because all are made in the image and likeness of
God. We reach out to those hurting the most because Jesus associates with them:
whatever you do to the least of my
brethren you do unto me[1].
And
just as we have a responsibility towards the Lazaruses of the world, we also
have a responsibility to prevent the collapse of Joseph. We cannot allow our
country to go down the path of immorality. As good Americans, we have a
responsibility to point the country to justice. That is what we do when we take stands for life. That is
what we are doing when we care for the stranger in the land. That is what we
are doing when we fight against any law that assaults the dignity of others,
whether that law is on the conservative agenda or liberal agenda. In fact,
before we define ourselves as conservatives or liberals, we need to remember
that through our baptism the Lord has defined us as Christians. Our
Christianity must guide the decision processes of our lives, not our politics!
Unlike the rich man’s brothers in the parable[2],
someone has risen from dead and called us to fight off our selfishness and our
complacency, and reach out to others. He has provided us with His Word. We have
Moses and the prophets. We have Jesus. We know that we have responsibilities to
others. We know that we have responsibilities to our country. We need to have
the courage to reject any tendency we might have to ignore the plight of
others, and the plight of our nation. We cannot be complacent. Others need us. Our
country needs us. We have a responsibility to be Christians. And we are
Catholic. Catholicism is wonderful. Catholicism is Christianity in its purest
and original form. It does not hedge on the truth, even when the truth is not
popular or politically correct. We do not hedge on our faith. The Eucharist is
the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, period. Mary is the Mother of God and our
Mother, period. Abortion is killing a baby. We fight for the baby’s life no
matter how that baby was conceived. Abusing poor workers is a sin against the
dignity of man. We fight for others’ dignity no matter how these workers came
into our country.
We are called today to fight against complacency. We are called to take
responsibility for the needs of others and the needs of our country. May we have the courage to be Catholic,
that is our prayer this evening [this morning] at the celebration of the
Eucharist! ■
[1] Matthew
25: 31-46.
[2] Father Abraham, if you cannot send Lazarus to give me some relief, at
least send him to my brothers. They have Moses and the prophets, let them
listen to them. But, Father Abraham, surely they will listen if someone were to
rise from the dead. If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will
not listen even if someone were to rise from the dead.
