Readings:
26th Sunday in Ordinary time
1 Amos 6:1,4-7
Psalm 145 (146) 7-10
1 Timothy 6:11-16
Luke 16:19-31
Reflection:
It is psalm 145 that picks up the Social Justice themes that have flowed through the Sunday Eucharist readings over the past few weeks. The way of the world is contrasted with the way of the Christian. We are told
‘It is the Lord who keeps faith forever;
It is the Lord who is just to those who are oppressed
It is the Lord, who gives bread to the hungry,
It is the Lord who sets prisoners free.
It is the Lord who gives sight to the blind
It is the Lord who rises up those who are bowed down.
It is the Lord who loves the just
It is the Lord who protects the stranger.
It is the Lord upholds the widow and orphan
It is the Lord who thwarts the path of the wicked
It is the Lord who will reign for ever, Zion’s God, from age to age.’
If it is the Lord who does these things, how can we stand by and let the world and all creation fall into chaos because we do nothing? We fail to see the poor and to hear when they cry out to us. We forget that we are the miracle through which God‘s creation continues in our world. God uses us to take the hand of the fallen, to speak wisdom to all of our leaders, and to bring joy into the communities in which we life. Let us remember that the miracles of Christ can be worked through us. As the refrain says ‘Praise the Lord my soul’.
Fr Peter Addicoat CP is parish priest and community leader of our St Joseph’s parish/community in Hobart Tasmania.