For the last several weeks, we have had readings from the 1st and 2nd books of Kings in the daily masses. Today, we hear from the prophet Amos, a shepherd from the southern kingdom of Judah. God called Amos to be a prophet, sending him to the northern kingdom of Israel. Amos confronted the people for the way they ignored social justice in their society while still devoutly worshipped God in their liturgies and prayers. Amos’s message of social justice still calls out to us today. Amos today tells the people that although they were favored by the Lord in all of the human family, they did not respond in love and service.
As we hear about the prophet Amos' call to bring God's message to the world around him, the saints we celebrate in the Church reflect the reality they responded to in their lives. Our saint today, Early Church Father Irenaeus of Lyons, is being named the latest Doctor of the Church. St Irenaeus was born in the early second century near the city of Ephesus in Turkey. He moved to Lyons in southern France where he served as a priest and then as the Bishop for 25 years. He was martyred during a time of persecution in the Early Church. Irenaeus is most remembered for his writings in defense of the Church, especially against the heresy of Gnosticism, a popular philosophy in the first centuries of the Early Church. Gnosticism saw the material world as being inferior to the spirit world. It saw a need for human beings to gain salvation and liberation from the material world. The Church, however, saw the world as intrinsically good as a part of God’s creation. Irenaeus stated: “He who is the Son of God became the Son of Man, that man might become the Son of God.” Irenaeus saw a unity between God and man, between man and creation, very different from the dualism proposed by Gnosticism.
As Amos confronted the reality of his day, of the way the people were not practicing the mercy and justice of God in their daily lives, and as Irenaeus confronted the heresies that were trying to take control of the Early Church, we also are to read the signs of the times in our modern world. We are called to look at the ways we practice justice and mercy in our lives. Are we turning away from the word of God and turning away from his laws and commandments? How are we called to turn back to the Lord?
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