15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Amos 7: 12-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13
Originally delivered on July 14, 1991
We are reminded today that it’s easy to miss the full meaning of repentance beyond being sorry. It means expressing one’s sorrow, regret, and shame for having done something wrong, and also turning oneself around. In today’s Gospel, we hear several important considerations from Jesus to his disciples. Those are that He sent them out in pairs, told them to go without many things, and to trust in Him to provide through those they would meet. In the first reading, we also hear about the challenges faced by the prophet Amos. He was an ordinary person, a shepherd, just as we are ordinary people called to a prophetic ministry of challenge and confrontation to those that victimize others. Like Amos and Jesus, as we heard in last week’s reading, as prophets, we will be challenged and rebuked. Nevertheless, we are called to challenge the comfortable notions of those that make the arrangements that leave some of our sisters and brothers marginalized. When confronted and asked who sent us, like Amos, we can be confident that God called us to be prophets.
