Amos — Chapter 8

Et erit in die illa dicit Dominus Deus

'And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon and I will darken the earth in the clear day.' À Lapide identifies this as a direct prophecy of the darkness at the crucifixion (Matt. 27:45; Luke 23:44-45). He catalogues patristic authority—Origen, Jerome, Chrysostom, Cyril—all confirming that the darkness over the whole earth at the ninth hour fulfils Amos 8:9 precisely. The mourning for an only son (v.10) prefigures the Virgin Mary's grief at the Passion.

Ecce dies veniunt dicit Dominus

'Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land—not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of God.' À Lapide applies this first to Israel's period without prophecy between Malachi and John the Baptist; then to the state of heretical communities who have the letter of Scripture but lack the living voice of the Magisterium; finally, to the soul in mortal sin deprived of divine consolation.