Homily for Friday, 4 July 2014– Ferial

Friday of the 13th week in Ordinary Time 

Independence Day (USA)

Readings of the day: Amos 8:4-6, 9-12; Psalm 119:2, 12, 20, 30, 40, 131; Matthew 9:9-13

“One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God,” we pray in our Responsorial Psalm. On this Fourth of July, what is the word “that comes forth from the mouth of God” to our ears and our hearts? How are we living by the word of God, both as individuals and as a nation? How are we being called to live better than we do by the word of God?

Jesus invites us all, whether rich or poor; powerful or not, to one mission: “Follow me.” This command to Matthew and then to all of us in our Gospel today, I think, does not mean, “Follow the way of money, social influence, military might; build an increasingly powerful nation at all costs… and then follow me.” No, Jesus says simply, “Follow me.” Following Jesus is our first priority as Jesus’ disciples.

While being as powerful and influential a nation as is the United States of America is not in itself wrong, we are invited especially today in this country to ask to what end our nation’s power and influence is directed. Is it directed toward power and influence for its own sake; toward living “by bread alone”; by power alone; by influence alone; by military might alone? Or is it directed toward the well-being of those most in need, in our world and right in our own country; in our own city; in our own communities; in our own parish? Are our hearts and ears directed toward hearing and living first “by the word of God”?

The word of God by which we are called to live is the word of a God who is “divinely obsessed” in a sense with the needs of the least well-off; a God whose priority; whose “preferential option” is “for the poor.” This God; our God calls rich and poor alike, us as individuals and as “one nation under God,” to share this same divine obsession. This obsession; this divine priority runs counter to an obsession with power, influence, and military might; to an obsession with ideological divisions that have marred our great nation and distract us from our one God-given mission.

This mission is the same mission given to the people of Israel whom the prophet Amos admonishes in our first reading: If you oppress those in need; if you are obsessed with building your own power and influence at all costs, your relationship with God will be broken. This is the same mission given to the Pharisees in our Gospel: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”

This mission is the same mission that Jesus gives to the tax collector-turned-apostle Matthew and now to us, as individuals and as a nation: “Follow me.” Live first so that those in greatest need may also live “by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”