Daily Reflection for Wednesday, July 01, 2020
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners,
We encourage you to reflect on Wednesday’s readings at this link:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/070120.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: Amos 5:14-15, 21-24
Responsorial: Psalm 50:7-13, 16bc-17
Gospel: Matthew 8:28-34
Our reflection on Wednesday’s readings:
“Away with your noisy songs! I will not listen to the melodies of your harps.
But if you would offer me burnt offerings, then let justice surge like water,
and goodness like an unfailing stream.“ (Amos 21-24)
We live in a tumultuous era in American history. This passage from today’s readings gives comfort and direction as we face uncertainty.
We are bombarded with the amplification of opinions and hyperbole masquerading as news. Much like noisy songs, the news blares without giving direction or hope. God said he would not listen to the noisy music; but he did accept the burnt offerings.
Burnt offerings were ones that truly were given to God. Burnt offerings weren’t food and drink offered at the temple and later consumed by the priest and their cohorts. Burnt offering gave glory only to God alone.
It’s time for us to make burnt offerings in the form of our time and talent. Getting out to vote, studying candidates, and holding elected officials to account are our burnt offerings.
There is hope! A long-time sitting judge in Contra Costa County (California) for each election walked the neighborhoods door to door with his granddaughter. He was asking the residents to vote, but more importantly conversing with them. The voters loved him. The superior court judge better understood the issues and hopes of his constituents. The voters didn’t look like him; they were 30 years younger. But he and the residents bridged that gap by their burnt offering of conversing, listening.
When is the last time we have written a letter or attended an event by an elected official?
We can all give our burnt offerings; they are surely needed.
Prayerfully,
Dorothy and Carlos Alexander