Amos 1:1-2. "The words of Amos ... two years before the earthquake ... :'The Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers." Amos goes on to list Israel, Judah, and the surrounding nations and say to each of them that God will be sending fire and destruction upon them for their transgressions. He lays out their transgressions and the destruction in prophetic, almost poetic terms. For example, because Damascus has "threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron" God will "break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the valley of Aven" (Amos 1:3-5); because Judah has "rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray" so God "will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the stronghold of Jerusalem." (Amos 2:4-5). What Amos was prophesying, as indicated in the first verse of the book, was an earthquake, and there was a tremendous earthquake in just the time he predicted. "There are, quite literally, piles of evidence that show why such an event lived in infamy - under the name 'the earthquake.'" ("Amos’s Earthquake: A Mountain of Evidence,").

This is a good lesson on how prophecy looks and sounds, so we can more easily recognize it. Amos did not use the word "earthquake" to describe what God was about to do, that was added after the fact. Amos prophesied great destruction, but not the exact cause of that destruction. He used prophetic, poetic images, like fire devouring strongholds and "a tempest in the day of the whirlwind." (Amos 1:14). Amos also did not lay out the people's transgressions with specificity (how long the book would have been if he did?!). He introduces each region by saying "For three transgressions and for four, I will not revoke the punishment ", and then goes on to describe the general way that the people there have offended the Lord, also in very poetic language. For example, Edom, Amos says, "pursued his brother with the sword, and cut off all pity." (Amos 1:11).

This is how God speaks through His prophets. A prophet does not produce detailed evidence of the wrongs of the people, and then read off their sentence. Prophecy is not a trial, it is a warning. The words the prophets speak to us should prick our hearts and our consciences. I am sure that not every resident of Edom pursued his brother with a sword, but I am also sure every resident of Edom knew exactly what Amos was talking about. He was calling out the "spirit of the age," he was pointing to the general transgressions that abounded in these areas, and the failure of charity underlying them.

So, if this is how prophecy sounds, when we are confronted with someone we otherwise believe to be sane, rational, and striving for good, who is trying to warn us of impending disaster, perhaps we should wonder whether they are a prophet, rather than stridently insisting they have no evidence for what they are saying. Do their words prick our hearts? Do we know, deep down, that what they are saying has some basis? Can we see the sins of our nation, Church, family, or group in what they are saying? If so, it would be wise to listen and repent, at least for anything we have personally done to create or enable the sins we see around us, for our own lack of charity. The "earthquake" may still come, but at least we will be seeking shelter for our souls in God's protection.

Finally, please allow me a bit of prophecy of my own. We are well past three or four transgressions, and we are in the midst of the whirlwind. People like Pope Saint John Paul II have been warning us for some time that "the greatest battle between good and evil that the world has ever seen" was coming, indeed, had already begun. Many see that we are in that battle, and many, including myself, see it getting worse before it gets better. We have already been through several earthquakes, actual and metaphorical, but more are coming. I think many, if not most, feel this in some way. We still have time to prepare our souls, and we should do so as best we can. Frequent confession and reception of the Eucharist go a long way in this regard! Perhaps we can still avert the disaster, if enough of us respond, but even if not averted, we will be preparing ourselves for the battle at hand.