Project BLACK MAMBA: Eastertide

'Tis the feast of Saint Soter, Pope (died circa 174), twelfth Bishop of Rome: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the feast of Saint Caius, Pope (died 296, A.K.A. Gaius), twenty-eighth Bishop of Rome: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the feast of Saint Theodore of Sykeon, Bishop (died circa 613): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter thirteen, verses twenty-six thru thirty-three;
Psalm Two, verses six thru eleven(b);
The Gospel according to John, chapter fourteen, verses one thru six.

Personal Reading
The Book of Numbers, chapter four (verses one thru forty-eight);
The Book of Numbers, chapter five (verses one thru thirty-one);
The Book of Amos, chapter five (verses one thru twenty-seven);
The Book of Amos, chapter six (verses one thru fourteen).

Commentary: Duties further defined (Numbers, 4:1-33), number of adult Levites (4:34-48), the unclean expelled (5:1-4), unjust possessions (5:5-10), & ordeal for a suspected adulteress (5:11-31); third word (Amos, 5:1-6, 8-9), first woe (5:7, 10-17), second woe (5:18-27), & third woe (6 inclusive).

I confess I am having a hard time seeing the Hand of God in the expulsion of the "unclean," especially given the Christ's personal healing of & direct interaction with lepers & others denied their fundamental human dignity & justice under the Law as practiced in first century Judaism. The prophet Amos inveighs against the empty, cynical ritualism & the neglect of true justice for the poor that sealed the doom of the Northern Kingdom of Israel at the hands of warlike Assyria, much more in keeping with the Christian understanding of our Heavenly Father's Will for His children.