Thursday, 2nd July 2020 - Holy Mass
Meet Amaziah, the compromised Priest of the Temple at Bethel in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He is very highly paid by the King (Jeroboam), and therefore the prophecy of Amos (who actually is from the Southern Kingdom of Judah) threatens his source of wealth. Therefore he paints the prophet of God in a bad light to the King in an utter conspiracy. But God's message is God's message and the prophet must deliver it. The first casualty of Amos' prophecy is Amaziah himself. When the Kings, the Priests, and the Prophets do not work together when they forget that they are in their positions for the same human person, the Kingdom (capital 'K') is compromised, and the human person is headed for the kingdom (small 'k'), for that is what being in exile for the human person means.
