Memorial of the first martyrs of the Roman Church during persecution of Nero.

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Amos 7,10-17

Amaziah the priest of Bethel then sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel as follows, 'Amos is plotting against you in the heart of the House of Israel; the country cannot tolerate his speeches. For this is what Amos says, "Jeroboam is going to die by the sword, and Israel will go into captivity far from its native land." ' To Amos himself Amaziah said, 'Go away, seer, take yourself off to Judah, earn your living there, and there you can prophesy! But never again will you prophesy at Bethel, for this is a royal sanctuary, a national temple.' 'I am not a prophet,' Amos replied to Amaziah, 'nor do I belong to a prophetic brotherhood. I am merely a herdsman and dresser of sycamore-figs. But Yahweh took me as I followed the flock, and Yahweh said to me, "Go and prophesy to my people Israel." So now listen to what Yahweh says: "You say: Do not prophesy against Israel, do not foretell doom on the House of Isaac!" Very well, this is what Yahweh says, "Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets, your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parcelled out by measuring line, and you yourself will die on polluted soil and Israel will go into captivity far from its own land!" '

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This page reports the conversation between the priest Amaziah and the prophet Amos. It is the clash between on one hand the freedom of the prophet who speaks in the name of God and on the other of Amaziah, a priest connected to the political and who speaks in the name of Jeroboam, the king of Samaria. The priest regards Amos' prophetic action as a political conspiracy against the state or its highest representative. After discussing the matter with Jeroboam himself, Amaziah confronts the prophet directly, telling him that "the land Is not able to bear all his words." And he warned him that he could no longer be a prophet in Bethel. He had to withdraw in the land of Judah. He expels him from the temple, which was no longer God's sanctuary, since it had been transformed into the king's "sanctuary." This reminds us of what was to happen in the temple of Jerusalem when, having become a market place rather than a house of prayer, it provoked the violent reaction of Jesus. The prophet Amos, who had allowed himself to be grasped by the Lord, retorts to Amaziah. He justifies himself first of all by saying that he does not belong to any caste, to any prophetic guild, nor does he claim a special place that distinguishes him from others. On the contrary, he reiterates clearly that there had been a direct intervention of God with him: "he took me from following the flock" and immediately gave him the prophetic mission: "Go, prophesy to my people Israel." And God himself intervenes to warn Amaziah. He, who wanted to silence the prophet to stay quiet, will see evil raging against him. It is a warning for all Israel. Without the Word of God, without its prophets, the people of God does not survive.