Homily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C) September 21, 2025
The following transcript of the homily is in the original formatting that was used for the sake of live delivery with all cues, emphasis, and notes included.
Transcript:
“Hear this, you who trample upon the needy:” “He raises up the lowly from the dust.” Words from the Book of the Prophet Amos and the responsorial psalm.
In the Name of the Father + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“When will the new moon be over?”
“When will the sabbath be over?”
“When will Mass be over?”
Whatever you do, don’t cheat yourself, like this.
Don’t cheat yourself like the Israelites did in our first reading.
Because even though they were hungry to get ahead financially at the cost of the poor,
They were doing themselves in spiritually at the cost of their souls.
And the Lord was having none of it.
So God rose up a good PROPHET to call out the ill-gotten PROFIT.
And the people were in need of a good calling out at the time of the prophet Amos.
And Amos was the man to do it because he not afraid to publicly rebuke even the elite among a people who had a whole host of problems, which manifested in at least two ways over and over
-1. The mixing of false worship of fake gods with the true worship of the real God – which is talked about elsewhere.
-2. The economic and social oppression of the poor as described in our first reading.
So how was this going on?
Well, start with a couple of biggies. How about:
-the disrespect of the Sabbath,
-and the violation of a couple of the 10 Commandments.
The Sabbath day was a gift from God meant for relaxing the mind and body so God’s people could spend quality time with the Lord and the family. Holy days like the “new moon” were meant for the same purpose.
But on the Sabbath and holy days the people, really those who had resources to sell, were working their minds and hearts around the altar of the almighty shekel while preparing their bodies to rush out to do business.
On the Sabbath they observed the covenant with their lips only but failed to profess it with their hearts.
They were treating God and their covenantal relationship with Him more like a burden to be endured so they can rush off to do what they “really” wanted to do: engage in trade and selling all the grain they could
– even the “refuse” – the leftover scraps of wheat.
On a human level, instead of having a heart to worship they had a heart to sell.
So on a spiritual level, this played out in having hearts that burned for gold but not for God.
They had feet that were swift to sell grain but those same feet treated the worship of God like it was a stumbling block in the pursuit of profit.
They were more content to serve the almighty shekel instead of the Almighty God.
In all of this, there were ready to trade the Temple for the market.
But if you reject the service of God for the making of money,
Don’t be surprised when you end up cheating your neighbor made in His Image,
Which is what we see happening in the reading.
Because in addition to having a heart to sell – they had a mind to defraud.
On a human level – they “diminished the ephah [and] added to the shekel.”
– An “ephah” was a standard unit for measuring out grain.
So vendors manipulated measures and weights so that they could sell less grain as a full ephah and get more money in return.
They did this by “fixing [their] scales for cheating” through tampering, thus cheating the, often poor, buyer.
But on a spiritual level – in diminishing the ephah they diminished their standing before God by their deceit.
By adding to the shekel they were adding to the judgment the Lord was going to bring down upon their heads by their greed.
And in fixing the scales they were breaking their salvation.
But by having a mind to deceive they also developed a will to oppress, for “we will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals.”
On a human level – through their deceitful selling they caused a vicious chain in which poor families who could not pay the high food prices jacked up by greed, and would end up in debt to get basic needs.
When they could not pay back the debt they ended up in a kind of debt slavery they could never get out of.
-And this spiral into debt slavery could all begin with a small pledge, or “a pair of sandals.”
This form of impoverishment was not only a problem of the individual but it brought the whole society down as more people were forced into poverty they could not escape.
But on a spiritual level – in buying the lowly they were purchasing God’s wrath behind every piece of silver.
In sending the poor into slavery to the economy they were casting themselves even deeper into slavery to sin.
By cheating and defrauding others Israel was cheating their own souls out of God’s grace, favor, and protection,
And in relation to the Lord’s covenant – they were proving themselves to be frauds.
You know, sometimes we can cheat our own souls too.
We can “diminish the ephah”,
– “add to the shekel”,
– “fix the scales”,
– and trade our souls for silver and sandals.
“When will the sabbath be over?” – “WHEN WILL MASS BE OVER?!“
– So we can get through this hour.
“WHEN WILL COMMUNION BE DONE?!”
– So we can walk out of here?
To rush and get to the things we “really” wanted to do today.
You know, we can feel like this sometimes.
But if we find ourselves in this attitude and carry on with this mood, we diminish the ephah of wills and give less of ourselves to God in order to keep more of the things of this world.
And it is not just with how we come to Mass, but we treat the other gifts God gives to our souls.
When we put on an outward show of faith and receive the Eucharist without sincere repentance and a true attempt to turn away from our sins, we try to fix the scales of the spiritual life to our favor in order keep our access to the sacraments and cheat grace.
– But in doing this we will cheat our souls and end with no grace while eating and drinking judgment upon ourselves.
And without Christ fallen human humanity exists in the slavery to sin in which we all owe a debt to God we cannot pay back,
But God is not like the debt slavers that kept their subjects in poverty.
For the Lord has stepped in and paid all our accounts in full and more by the Blood of His Son who we are not worthy to loosen his sandals.
However, the devil has no problem playing the role of the wicked debt slaver.
He personally adds to our spiritual debt by selling us the leftover “refuse” of sin disguised as grain in the market of this world,
- and, for this, – we end up pledging our souls as sandals to pay.
But when we diminish the ephah – we diminish the soul.
When we add to the shekel – drag down the spirit.
When fix the scales for cheating – we sabotage our salvation.
Don’t cheat your own soul – your “needy” soul – “your “poor” soul of the land.
Do not “trample upon” your spirit – don’t dare destroy it!
But say rather: “When will the WEEK be over so we can go to SUNDAY MASS?”
– “When will the NIGHT be over so we can go to church and receive the SACRAMENTS?”
– “When will the CONSECRATION come so I can see JESUS LIFTED UP HIGH?”
-“When will COMMUNION come so I FILL MY CUP?”
-“When will ADORATION be back up in the CHAPEL?”
-“When will BAPTISM come so I can SELL MY LIFE to Him for free?
-“When will the PRIEST show up so I may display my SOUL in the confessional and be FORGIVEN?”
– “When will my STRUGGLE WITH THIS SIN be done, so I can BE FREE FROM THIS SHAME?”
We will diminish SIN.
We will add to GRACE with MORE GRACE.
We will ask God to FIX THE SCALES of divine judgment so that the overflowing MEASURE OF HIS MERCY far outweighs the DEBT OF OUR SINS.
- And we shall CHEAT SPIRITUAL DEATH and DEFRAUD the DEVIL.
Because the Father has bought the lowly – not with silver, but the Son.
And he has put a pair of sandals on the prodigal feet of the poor.
For He has not given over “REFUSE”, but has REFUSED to let us remain in the poverty of death and the slavery to sin.
And The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jesus:
Never will I forget what I have done for them!
In the Name of the Father + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Given at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Hendersonville, TN.