The readings Catholics across the nation heard at mass Sunday morning seemed to be directed straight at the actions and attitudes of the Republicans in Congress, particularly during the past week, when on consecutive days House Republicans voted to take food and healthcare away from the working poor -- and smiled, laughed and cheered about doing it.
Most of these people claim to be Christians, yet they gleefully do the opposite of what Jesus taught.
Consider these excerpts from Sunday's readings:
First Reading, Amos 8: 4-6
Hear this, you who trample upon the needy
and destroy the poor of the land!
. . .
We will buy the lowly for silver,
and the poor for a pair of sandals;
even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!"
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Never will I forget a thing they have done!
"You who trample on the needy and destroy the poor of the land" is a perfect description of today's Tea Party-dominated Republican Party.
Responsorial Reading: Psalm 113:7-8
He raises up the lowly from the dust;
from the dunghill he lifts up the poor
to seat them with princes,
with the princes of his own people.
Response: Praise the Lord who lifts up the poor.
The Republican response would be: "Praise the politicians who trample the poor and lift up the Superrich."
Jesus must be saying, "Oy vey ist mir!" at what House Republicans are doing. These devilish people should try reading the Sermon on the Mount. They'll find that It doesn't say "Give more to the billionaires and screw the poor and middle class," which is a succinct summary of the current policy of what was once the Party of Lincoln.
It is in Sunday's gospel reading that we see the proper name for the party that long since left Lincoln.
Gospel Reading (Luke 16:13)
No servant can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and mammon.
While many Republicans like to pose as the "Party of God," what they actually show themselves to be, day after day, is the Party of Mammon.