It 2nd July 2018. The readings are from Amos 2:6-10, 13-16; and the Gospel from Matthew 8:18-22. Will we be blamed for forgetting and oppressing the poor and the needy in our lives one day by God? Charity runs dry in the well springs of our hearts when we begin to embrace greed as our pathways to lead a happy and contented life. God makes us rich and affluent to share the wealth with the poor and the needy in our community. Most of us change so drastically when money, wealth and material blessings come. We wilfully forget the poor and the needy. We begin to blame them and find fault with them for their laziness and the choices they made. Indeed, we have failed like that of the people of Israel in the first reading to forget the poor and considering them equal to a material thing filled with bodily pleasure than to have revere the holy name of God. The Catechism teaches so strongly in No. 2407. “In economic matters, respect for human dignity requires the practice of the virtue of temperance, so as to moderate attachment to this world’s goods; the practice of the virtue of justice, to preserve our neighbour’s rights and render him what is his due; and the practice of solidarity, in accordance with the golden rule and in keeping with the generosity of the Lord, who “though he was rich, yet for your sake . . . became poor so that by his poverty, you might become rich.” Whenever we have forgotten the welfare of the poor, we have forgotten God whom we worship. The responsorial Psalm rebukes, “Mark this, you who never think of God.” (Ps.49:22). The Gospel invites us to prioritize God and to live a life worthy of our vocation. We are all called by God to serve, to find God and to meet God in those marginalised and the most vulnerable members of our communities. As we are praying for the vocations in this months, let us pray for the quality in vocation drives. We left our homes, families, friends and relatives to become poor to identify with the poor and to uplift the lives of them. Let us not just fill members to strengthen our hold and in influence for the power and the post we wish to continue in the service of the Lord. Let our institutions and the Church be serious in discerning people who are willing to serve the Lord in the poor. Let us identify the chameleons while we recruit people for God and the Church. Let us be on guard in what we do and say that might not hurt the sentiments of the poor. Let our homes, churches, the institutions have place for the poor and let our stand for the poor not just in the letters of our constitutions only. “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his hand.” (Mt.8:20). Jesus calls us to serve and to love through the eyes of mercy and charity. May the Lord help us to be generous in service to the poor and the needy.