The Abbey Church

The first reading today is from the prophet Amos. We don’t hear from him too often, so I’m going to tell you his story. He was from the Kingdom of Judah, from a town just a little south of Jerusalem. God called him and sent him on a most difficult mission: to go and prophesy, to speak for God, way up in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Now the northern kingdom had no use for Jerusalem, the temple or any prophet from south of the border. So, the cards were stacked against Amos right from the start. Nevertheless, he went north and fearlessly spoke what God inspired him to say.

Now the Northern Kingdom at this time was rich and great, so everyone in business (and lots of people were) was making lots of money. Of course, there were taxes, so the great King of Israel could afford a large army and a big palace, and monuments and big buildings too, so they could impress traders and ambassadors from other lands. But even after taxes, the businessmen had a lot of money left over. Now they were very busy people; they didn’t get rich by being lazy, mind you, and they didn’t have a lot of time for prayer. But they could pay for sacrifices, which they did big time, LOTS of sacrifices. After all, they thought God liked sacrifices, and the bigger the animal the better. So the priests were also getting quite rich off of their share of the sacrifices. Now what could these people do with all this wealth? It was a problem: if you invested it, you just got MORE wealth and made the problem bigger. So their answer was to spend it. Whatever luxuries that could be imported, from Persia, from India, from Egypt, from China and the East Indies, they bought it all. Life was good, real good in the Northern Kingdom, except for one thing. There were a lot of unhappy people that weren’t rich. These people didn’t own land, or flocks or a business; as a matter of fact, all they owned was the clothes on their back. They had no skills, only their muscles. These people couldn’t bathe often or use perfumes; they smelled. They had too many children. So they had to beg, and often they had to borrow, but the only collateral they had for a loan was their cloak, which was a needed for warmth at night and in the winter.

Well, the rich people gave when they begged, sometimes, and even lent money to them. At least you could make a little profit that way. But just to make sure that these poor people didn’t think a loan was a gift, or get any ideas about not repaying, the Northerners held on to their cloaks as collateral, even when the law said you had to return a cloak to a borrower at nightfall, so its owner could use it as a blanket. As you can imagine, the Northerners were not happy with Amos telling them they were wrong. They ridiculed him, insulted him, told him to go back where he belonged, down south. After all, the king had his own prophets in the north, and the way things were was just fine with them. After a serious run-in with Amaziah, high priest and friend of the king, Amos either returned home to Judah or he was murdered. But he had kept faith with the Lord and fearlessly spoke his word. God’s word to the Northern Kingdom was this: I hate, I despise your festivals. I want mercy, not sacrifices. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. About twenty years after Amos prophesied, the North was conquered by Assyria and all the rich and smart people were sent off to faraway places and Ten Tribes of the people who followed Moses from Egypt and Joshua into the promised land were forever lost.

But God’s word and prophecy aren’t just for one moment in time. They are for our time too. Here in America and the first world we cannot escape the fact that life is pretty good here. Of course, life today is a lot more complicated than it was in Amos’ time, or when Jesus told that story in the gospel about poor Lazarus. But, we do have much more than we need, and we are the disciples of the same Jesus Christ who told that important story in the Gospel, and he told it for a reason. If there’s any anything most people, rich and poor, believe in and agree upon in America today, it is that it’s good to buy lots of things. Our economy depends on that. It’s complicated, but Jesus did not say: “This Gospel is not meant for 2022.” It still holds true for today and for us. Abraham tells the rich man in Jesus’ story, “between you and us there is a great wall.” The truth is that the rich man built that wall while he lived, and if we are not careful we can do the same thing. By our lives we build either walls or bridges. In St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart.” If our treasure is money, power, status or things, then that’s where our heart is. He says that because God judges hearts, and if our heart does not seek God as its treasure, we are in big trouble. God is love, and love is the only thing you can take with you, when you go to meet God at the end of this life. And the end will come.

Abbot Michael

An ancient and beautiful funeral chant of the Church says this: “May the angels lead you into paradise; when you arrive may the martyrs receive you, and bring you into the holy city Jerusalem; May the chorus of angels receive you and with Lazarus who once was poor may you have eternal rest.” So when we arrive at the judgment seat of God, Lazarus - the same Lazarus we heard of in the Gospel today, or someone just like him - will be there too, waiting to hear where our hearts were. Will we comfortable with that? Will we be comfortable to be in the company of that Lazarus, who was covered with sores, so unpleasant in this life? It is complicated and each of us builds and finds our own way in life, but if we really want to be comfortable with Lazarus’ input at our judgment, we have lots of time and opportunities to straighten out our hearts. Jesus also says in the Gospel, “The poor you will ALWAYS have with you.” There will always be around us poor people, people in need, in desperate need of help, of food, of medical care, of a job, of a place to live, of someone to care, someone to listen. The poor you WILL always have with you. Because all of us are poor in some way: poor in some skill, poor in some subject, poor in social skills, poor in athletic ability, poor in reputation, in self-respect, poor in respect given by others. It’s not just money the poor need. And not all of us have much money to give to charity. But we can give our time in community service, or contribute our talents to helping someone, some cause. The poor need our attention.

In his description of the last judgment, Jesus tells us what God will look at and look for in us, and He assures us: Whatever you do or don’t do to the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, You do or don’t do for me. It may seem complicated, but it’s really simple. It may be hard, but it’s so worth the effort.  May we always do the right thing.


 

Hi again, guys! I wanted to say that these days have been so fun, being with you at sports, at the dining hall and in your houses. It may surprise you, but today I don't want to talk to you just about lectio, but give you my testimony of my own experience with faith, and some reflections I have made about it. During my few years of life I have learned and experienced many things: academically, here at the Abbey, in Patagonia, with my friends and family, in my school and my country: lots of things, good and bad. Throughout life, I also become aware of my own fragility and also the fragility of society and the world that we live in. We are living in a world of crisis that has taken away our plans and our securities. What we thought was stable as rock may be broken. And there have also been personal problems: health problems, academic problems, family problems, problems with friends, boyfriend.... Not that big, but there were some. But the most important thing about all of this is that there is something stronger and more stable than anything in this world or outside of it. And that is Christ.

Trinidad Hüe at
Church Assembly

I have experienced that He is the only one that doesn't change, in any sense. I mean it. Don't ask me how, but I just know that he has such an immense love for me that it can ́t be compared with anything in the world. So, my first invitation for you is to think about this. We are in a hard and uncertain time. It is as if everything has been put into a big and crazy machine that doesn't stop, full of transformations. It is difficult to understand and we don't know where it is going. So, today I say: let fall everything that has to fall, and let ́s hold on to the rock that is Christ, because He is the only immutable one, who gives us life and fullness.  
The second thing that I want to say to you today is how this strong and incredible God can talk to you personally - through the Bible. My school, San Benito School, is also a Catholic school. So, like you, we have Mass, prayers before class, and all that kind of stuff. But, the most impressive thing that they have taught us, since we are in kindergarten, is that God wants to have an encounter with us, and the way that He can do it is through lectio divina. Maybe you are a little tired of hearing us Chileans talk so much about lectio, and maybe it can become, at this point, an empty word. So today I want to renew this way of prayer, the way of lectio divina. Lectio divina is essentially a way of encountering God in the Bible. What makes it special is that through it we can talk with God, like Moses did in the tent of meeting in Exodus, where he spoke to God “face to face, as a man talks to his friend.” As a man talks to his friend... Have you ever thought that God can be your friend? I mean, that He cares that much for you, that He wants to be with you always, that He genuinely cares about your problems, that He rejoices with your joys, that He is there for you always. Yes, all of this and much more, is Jesus.  
I have discovered this through lectio divina. I know this sounds crazy: that I can say that a man that I have literally never seen face to face is my friend. But believe me when I say that lectio has shown me this and a lot more. Through different readings I have been discovering who God is, and through the years all of this has been making more sense – even to the point that I have traveled many miles to be here with you, helping with lectio groups and saying in front of everyone here that I have seen the Lord, and that has made me happier than I could ever have imagined. The mystery of the Catholic faith is the announcement of the good news, the most shocking news you will ever hear. It is the mystery of the greatest love, the greatest mystery in human history. Jesus died on the cross and erased all your sins, all your faults, all your wrongdoings. He gave meaning to your suffering, He made your joys eternal, He showed you that He literally dies of love for you. When you accept and believe all that, the only thing that God asks of you is to live with Christ, to walk in His ways, to love Him, to not forget Him, to come to Him, to recognize Him in your daily life, and to be able to say from your heart, “Thank you, Lord." The gospel says: If you remain in me, Jesus, and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. I invite you to say the same thing to God, deep inside, to say yes. To let Him into your life, to let Love into your heart, because God is Love.  
I can bear witness that since I let God into my life, everything has been better, it has been pure joy, spiritual joy, because, although the road often becomes very hard and I feel fear or the problems overwhelm me, deep down I know that there is someone greater and more powerful than me taking care of everything and who has for me the answers of Life. Jesus Christ is Life, LIFE - with capital letters. He is the one who has the answers of eternal life, and calls you by name. He is before you, waiting for you to let Him in. Today, I invite you to not just sit around waiting to find God magically: GET UP! Go out to meet Him! Wake up! At school, there are lectio groups, there are lectio leaders, monks, faculty, friends. Go to them and try to discover what the experience of having God by your side is like. I knew God through lectio divina, but that doesn't mean it's the only way. Seek, pray, and let yourself be found. God has called you, and He says: "I have come into the world so that you may have life, and have it abundantly."