Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 381

Yes, days are coming, says the Lord GOD,
when I will send famine upon the land:
Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water,
but for hearing the word of the LORD.
Then shall they wander from sea to sea
and rove from the north to the east
In search of the word of the LORD,
but they shall not find it.


Psalm 119 describes the great joy that God's people take in knowing, pondering, celebrating, teaching and living by God's Law. The longest psalm with 176 verses, every verse of has a synonym for the word; including testimony, ways, command, precepts, statutes and judgments.
As heirs of the Jewish race, Christians also take delight in the Word of God, especially because we believe Jesus is the Word Made Flesh.
There can be no punishment worse than being deprived of the Word. But that is the punishment Amos threatened against the Kingdom of Israel. They would suffer a famine of the word. They would wander and rove from sea to sea and north to south, in search of the word, "but they shall not find it"
Making these statements at the shrine of Bethel, Amos got some attention. Like Jesus in the temple, Amos was bad for business. The news came to the king and the prophet was told to go back home to Judah, the southern kingdom.
The doctrines of the Catholic Church give some assurance we will never face such a penalty. No matter how wicked the priest, when he celebrates the Mass the wheat wafer becomes the Body of Christ and the grape wine becomes the Blood of Christ. The faithful are assured of that. But what if there is no priest; if no one is compelled by the Spirit to seek ordination?
Lay folks have been stepping forward in innumerable ways to do much of the work that priests once did; and we thank God for them. But they do not preside at Mass, and there is no Church without the Eucharist.
Sociologists have many explanations for the crisis and leaders of the Church ponder their analyses. But it is hard to avoid the prophecies of Amos and the suspicion that we are being punished for infidelity. The "sexual abuse scandal" is less an explanation than a symptom of a profound loss of morale among clergy and the faithful. The Holy Spirit that impelled men and women like a mighty wind to lead the Church as priests, sisters, monks, friars, nuns and deacons has faded to a whisper. If young people were marrying and remaining married with never a thought of divorce we could take heart in this marvelous sign of the Spirit's presence. But that is not the case.
In today's first reading the Prophet Amos calls us to do penance. We must pray, make sacrifice, and encourage one another through this time of trial, this desert experience. My historian friends tell me the Church has seen worse times.
Finally, we should take heart from the prophecies of Amos: if it is God who punishes, then we have nothing to fear. He concludes his predictions with a word of hope:

See, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on this sinful kingdom,and I will destroy it from the face of the earth—But I will not destroy the house of Jacob completely—For see, I have given the command to sift the house of Israel among all the nations,As one sifts with a sieve,letting no pebble fall to the ground.All sinners among my people shall die by the sword,those who say, “Disaster will not reach or overtake us.”On that day I will raise up the fallen hut of David;I will wall up its breaches,raise up its ruins,and rebuild it as in the days of old....