But how exactly does God save us? He
reveals the truth to us, the truth about ourselves. Without this truth, we may
think we have no need for salvation. We may have all the money in the world,
but if we do not know and accept the truth, it will do us no good. The way that
God reveals the truth to us is by speaking through prophets, or religious
superiors, or friends, or even enemies who tell us the truth about ourselves
(even if we’d rather not hear it). God sent Amos to tell the Israelites the
truth: their religious observance was a sham; they lived luxuriant lives at the
expense of the poor, so much so that Amos called the women of Samaria, “cows of
Bashan”, who sold the poor for a pair of sandals and then called out to their
husbands: “Bring us a drink!” Amos concludes with this fiery statement, “The
Lord God has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have
done.” Amos used the knife of truth to lay bare their need for salvation and to
show them where we should place their hope.
There must be a message of hope contained
in here, since God wills everyone to be saved. What or who is this “pride of
Jacob” that God is swearing by? Remember these words from Hebrews, “…since he
had no one greater by whom to swear, ‘he swore by himself…’” When God swears by
the pride of Jacob, he swears by himself, which we can refer to his only
begotten son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the real Pride of Jacob. And since
his mother Mary is never far from her son, we can include her as a cause of our
hope, she who is the Glory of Jerusalem. It is certain that God will never
forget a thing that these two have done. The way we cooperate in our salvation
is to place our faith in what these two have done and remain united with them,
acting in concert with them. No matter how far we stray, no matter how low we
fall, God will never forget what his Pride and his Glory have done, nor will he
forget our efforts to remain united with them.
There is a non-biblical story that
illustrates this. It is Dante’s description of his climb up the mountain of
purgatory with Virgil as his guide (Canto V). Dante encounters the spirit of
Buonconte, an adversary in warfare. Buonconte relates how he was fleeing from a
battle against Dante’s people, bleeding from a wound to his throat, when he
lost his sight and fell to the ground. Without time to seek absolution for his
sins, he uttered the name of Mary. And lo, the angel of God swooped down and
grabbed Buonconte from the devil’s grasp, and the devil cried out, “O thou from
heaven, why dost thou rob me? Thou bearest away for thyself the (soul) of him
for one little tear…” (and the name of Mary).
This is a reason for hope: God wills
everyone to be saved. If we have delayed our repentance, or our religious
observance has been a sham, or we have treated some person with contempt, let
us call on the name of Jesus! Call on Mary! If the voice of Amos thunders in
our conscience, reminding us of our infidelities: call on the Pride of Jacob!
Call on the Glory of Jerusalem! God our Father never forgets a thing they have
done. All he wants is for us to acknowledge the great good he has given to us
through his Son and through his Son’s mother, and to live in communion with
them. This is our hope of salvation, and it is in the Eucharist that we give
expression to that hope and find its fulfillment.
Photograph by Brother Brian. Excerpts from Father Vincent's Sunday Homily.
Photograph by Brother Brian. Excerpts from Father Vincent's Sunday Homily.