Glory and praise to you, God our loving Father for this brand new month of July 2022: new beginning, new batch of 31 days filled with your wonderful surprises, filled with life and joy!
Grant us, dear Father, with sense of directions in you through Jesus Christ your Son; like Matthew, may we have the grace to respond to his call to follow him; help us realize like Matthew that life is not about having wealth and every thing money can buy but finding meaning and directions in life in you.
Forgive us, O Lord, when affluence and comforts overtake us that we forget you and the people around us like the people of Israel at the time of Amos who "trampled upon the needy and destroyed the poor of the land" (Amos 8:4); all the sad conditions happening then still happen today when nobody cares at all about Sunday worship nor with honesty in trading and work.
Yes, days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send famine upon the land: Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord. Then shall they wander from sea to sea and rove from north to the east in search of the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
Amos 8:11-12
Continue to speak to us, Lord, for without your words, we are lost like many of those among us today, "wandering from sea to sea, roving from north to the east" searching for your words, searching for meaning and directions in life. Amen.
