Optional Memorial of the First Holy Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church

Lectionary: 378

You alone have I favored, 
more than all the families of the earth;
Therefore I will punish you
for all your crimes....

If evil befalls a city,
has not the Lord caused it?
Indeed, the Lord God does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets. The lion roars--
who will not be afraid!
The Lord God speaks--
who will not prophesy!

The Prophet Amos, in today's first reading, offers a wonderful song/poem of warning about the consequences of evil. (I have ruthlessly edited his copy in the above text for the sake of brevity, but it's worth your going back to read its entirety.)

Amos reminds us of what every faithful person should know. Because our God loves us he teaches us right and wrong; warns us about our evil desires and habits; and, when his teachings and warnings have been ignored, punishes those he loves. 

Obviously, more blessings will not change anything. They only reward bad behavior. Warnings can also be exhausted; they lose all effect after many repititions. No one likes punishment but it can serve a purpose. It can help God's unfaithful people to remember who they are, the promises they were given, and the warnings they ignored. 

Of course, in our time, that awareness meets some credal opposition from deists who insist that God does not intervene in His creation. He set it up a long time ago, they say, and has ignored it ever since. Others will say that God is too nice to be angry. "Isn't anger a sin? And God never sins!" 

Obviously they have not read the Bible; every chapter of all 72 writings is filled with blessings and threats. "Our God comes! He keeps silence no longer!" 

The Wise Man Job also teaches: 

“Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb,

and naked shall I go back there.

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;

blessed be the name of the LORD!” (Job 1:21)

and "We accept good things from God; 

should we not accept evil? (Job 2:10)

The Catholic Church speaks prophetically to the nations today, warning them to pay attention to God's respect for human dignity, and the respect that we owe to one another. We warn them precisely because we have no earthly power to punish anyone. Should the Church be silent, the world would be as doomed as the world Noah knew before the Deluge. 

We prophecy like Amos; we may be ignored or despised, but we fear the Lord's wrath. We are not be glad to see the punishments of endless war, abuse of helpless people, and irreparable harm to the environment, but we cannot be silent about his threats for they too are proof of God's attentive care.