15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle B
2000

First Reading
Amos 7:12-15

Amaziah (priest of Bethel) said to Amos, "Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah! There earn your bread by prophesying, but never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal temple."
Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel."

Second Reading
Ephesians 1:3-14

Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens! God chose us in him before the world began, to be holy and blameless in his sight, to be full of love; he likewise predestined us through Christ Jesus to be his adopted sons -- such was his will and pleasure -- that all might praise the divine favor he has bestowed on us in his beloved. It is in Christ and through his blood that we have been redeemed and our sins forgiven, so immeasurably generous is God's favor to us. God has given us the wisdom to understand fully the mystery, the plan he was pleased to decree in Christ, to be carried out in the fullness of time: namely, to bring all things in the heavens and on earth into one under Christ's headship. In him we were chosen; for in the decree of God, who administers everything according to his will and counsel, we were predestined to praise his glory by being the first to hope in Christ. In him you too were chosen; when you heard the glad tidings of salvation, the word of truth, and believed in it, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit who had been promised. He is the pledge of our inheritance, the first payment against the full redemption of a people God has made his own to praise his glory.

Gospel
Mark 6:7-13

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing on the journey but a walking stick -- no food, no traveling bag, not a coin in the purses in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals. "Do not bring a second tunic," he said, and added: "Whatever house you find yourself in, stay there until you leave the locality. If any place will not receive you or hear you, shake its dust from your feet in testimony against them as you leave." With that they went off, preaching the need of repentance. They expelled many demons, anointed the sick with oil, and worked many cures.

Text from Lectionary for Mass
© 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine
© 1969 International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc.
All rights reserved

My Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

This is one of those rare Sunday in Ordinary time in which it is easy to find a connection between all three readings. We are people who are called by God and sent by Him to do His will. The prophet Amos was accused of being a prophet. That sounds a bit strange to us today because we think of prophets as individual people who foretell the future.

In the time of Amos there were groups of prophets. One could join such a group in order to make a living! It might have been something like joining a Monastery today-for all the wrong reasons. If one joins a Monastery to make a living or have a career, the motivations are all wrong. Yet it sometimes happens that way. Certainly at some points in history men or women joined Monasteries because it was a way to make sure that they had food and shelter. So to have a group of prophets that one could join does not have to sound to odd. If one is too proud to beg and to soft to work...

Obviously such a way to become a prophet brought disgrace and discredit on the calling to be a prophet. This is why Amos takes such great care to disassociate himself from being a prophet: "I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets." Instead, he is clear that he was called directly by God and sent by God to prophesy-and he has no connection with these professional prophets!

We hear our Lord Jesus in the Gospel telling the twelve to go out and begin curing people! They have been called earlier in the Gospel and now are sent out on a mission of healing. They are told to take nothing with them except a walking stick. This seems an obvious reference to the manner in which the twelve can misuse the authority entrusted to them.

In the history of our Church there is always the struggle against the misuse of authority. Because we are humans this misuse appears over and over again. No law can take away the misuse of authority, but can only keep some check on it. The challenge is for those in authority to keep their hearts and their energies focused on Christ and on His life within them and within other humans.

We can pray today for all those who exercise authority, in the Church, in Civil Government, in Families and in whatever other way to be men and women who live from the divine life within them and who value that divine life in others.

© 2000 The Monastery of Christ in the Desert