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7-01
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Blessed Junipero Serra, OFM Priest (Optional Memorial)
| Amos 3: 1 - 8 | |
| 1 | Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt: |
St. Cyril of Alexandria
The verse could be taken as addressed to the whole of Israel, not citing Judah and Ephraim separately, but as though addressing a unit comprising every tribe, since every tribe of Israel was led out of the land of Egypt.
| 2 | "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. |
Theodore of Mopsuestia
Do not make nonsense of what has been declared about you by God, since it is the one who freed you all from slavery in Egypt and at that time gave evidence of his special care for you beyond all other people who has now also declared this about you in threatening just retribution for your being ungrateful in this way to such a wonderful benefactor.
St. John Chrysostom
For this very cause God accuses the Israelites more vehemently, and shows that they were worthy of greater chastisement, because they sinned after so many honors had come to them from Him.
| 3 | "Do two walk together, unless they have made an appointment? |
Theodore of Mopsuestia
As confirmation of what has been said, and as proof of the words not being spoken by chance, he goes on in this vein meaning something like this, “If it is possible for 2 people to make a short journey together while all the time hiding from each other the reason for the journey and not communicating with each other about it, and engaging in travel with a common purpose, it will be possible also for the enemy to come against you in defiance of God’s will.
St. Cyril of Alexandria
Consequently he means, O stupid and mindless people, surely some of you will not become friends and take the same path in life without getting to know one another, that is, without perceiving that the other shares the same behavior and attitudes? Scripture says, remember, ‘Every creature loves its like, and people stick close to those like themselves.(Sir. 13:15-16)’
| 4 | Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing? |
St. Cyril of Alexandria
God is like a lion, he says, that normally cries out before catching its prey as if to give warning in advance of its attack, while the prophets are like cubs in imitating His behavior, protesting at those given to impious behavior, as I said. Just as with animals in the mountains, however, the savage creature’s warning is not without benefit in that it prompts them to flee before perhaps being taken, so too, with sinners the threat and prediction before the disaster is most helpful, moving them to repentance and avoidance of their exploits. God therefore compares Himself to a lion that does not attack and inflict on some people the effects of wrath before threatening in advance, His purpose being for them to repent and be saved by taking the prediction of the future the onset of disaster as a saving remedy.
Theodore of Mopsuestia
Is it possible for a lion to cry out from its den when it has no expectation of prey, and for it to see something without catching it (by cub referring again to the lion, as if to say, “what is a human being, and the son of a human being?)So if this is possible, he is saying, it is possible also for your enemy to engage in an attack on you without capturing you like some kind of prey.
| 5 | Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing? |
St. Cyril of Alexandria
In this case the verse probably refers by sparrows to people given to conceit, with arrogant and self-important ideas, who cannot bear to accommodate themselves to the lowly; they are lovers of earthly things caught in snares, seeking only what is fleshly and opulent. God this time compares Himself to a hunter and a snare, bringing down to earth the haughty, and striking, as it were, and catching for punishment those whose minds are fixed solely on the earth.
Theodore of Mopsuestia
As birds are normally caught by fowlers, and snares fall at the time they are about to catch something so too you must expect some sort of trouble, with the enemy attacking and capturing in defiance of God’s will, and even taking you off into captivity.
Theodoret
As it is impossible for two people to share a journey at the same time, he is saying, unless indicating to each other where and why they are traveling, or for a lion to roar if there is no prey, or for a bird to fall without a hunter, or for all the other things mentioned, so it is impossible for any punishment to be imposed without God willing it. He calls punishment "evil," note, by use of a general custom: we are accustomed to use "troubles" of diseases, chastisements, untimely deaths, famines, wars, and the like, not because they are troublesome by nature but because they are troublesome to human beings and the source of distress and grief.
| 6 | Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does evil befall a city, unless the LORD has done it? |
St. John of Damascus
Since the word evil is ambiguous it has two meanings, for it sometimes means what is by nature evil, being the opposite of virtue and against God's will, while at other times it means what is evil and painful in relation to our sensibility, which is to say, tribulation and distress. Now while these last seem to be evil, because they cause pain, actually they are good because to such as understand them they are a source of conversion and salvation. It is these last that Scripture says are permitted by God. Moreover, one must know that we too cause them because involuntary evils spring from voluntary ones.
St. Thomas Aquinas
But if there were no evils in the world, much good would be lost to man, as well in respect of knowledge, as also in respect of desire and love of good: for good is better known in contrast with evil; and while evil results come about, we more ardently desire good results: as sick men best know what a blessing health is.
St. Cyril of Alexandria
By evil in the text that is caused by God in cities, therefore, we should understand not depravity-perish the thought! But rather harassment, or any wrathful response that he would make to sinners with the intention of converting them to what is more seemly.
| 7 | Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. |
St. Thomas Aquinas
The Lord reveals to the prophets all things that are necessary for the instruction of the faithful; yet not all to every one, but some to one, and some to another.
And although God revealed in general to the prophets what He was one day to do regarding the salvation of the human race, still the apostles knew some particulars of the same, which the prophets did not know. Thus we read (Ephesians 3:4-5): "As you reading, may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to His holy apostles." Among the prophets also, the later ones knew what the former did not know; according to Psalm 118:100: "I have had understanding above ancients," and Gregory says: "The knowledge of Divine things increased as time went on" (Hom. xvi in Ezech.).
| 8 | The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?" |
St. Cyril of Alexandria
In other words, he is saying, if by the roaring of the lion, the strongest of wild animals, a person would not be so unfeeling and insolent as not to feel the impact of terror, how could it be that when God speaks in His great might and bids them proclaim what they have been told, they would not be in fear of the bidder?
St. Basil
National calamity is traced to national sin, specially to neglect of the poor.
| Amos 4: 11 - 12 | |
| 11 | "I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomor'rah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me," says the LORD. |
St. Cyril of Alexandria
In this he was probably suggesting to us the eventual sacking that happened in the time of Jeremiah by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, who tool the whole of Judea, set fire even to Jerusalem itself and its neighboring cities and towns, pulled down the divine Temple, took captive the survivors from the fighting, and as a glorious conqueror went back home with the captives, who finally returned to Judea at the completion of the period of 70 years.
St. Clement of Alexandria
See how God, through His love of goodness, seeks repentance; and by means of the plan He pursues of threatening silently, shows His own love for man.
Theodore of Mopsuestia
I inflicted on you the ultimate devestation, as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, with the result that you were set alight like a burning brand and invested with the troubles besetting you; but you were still incapable of recovering any sense from it.
| 12 | "Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!" |
St. Cyril of Alexandria
Since initial measures did not suffice, He proceeded to an overthrow similar to the Sodomites, this was the kind of thing, as he said, that was inflicted on them by divine wrath.
St. Thomas Aquinas
And thus even the good movement of the free-will, whereby anyone is prepared for receiving the gift of grace is an act of the free-will moved by God. And thus man is said to prepare himself, according to Proverbs 16:1: "It is the part of man to prepare the soul"; yet it is principally from God, Who moves the free-will. Hence it is said that man's will is prepared by God, and that man's steps are guided by God.
JohnLitteral |
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