The loss of focus

The phrase “jealous God” comes to mind when reflecting on the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today. The prophet Hosea compares the return of the people of Israel to faith and trust in God to the blooming of rich and exotic plants with aroma and beauty providing evidence of great life. The senses are filled with the experience of the Divine. This assurance causes the prophet to wonder how and why we put the work of our hands and our ambitions and lusts ahead of our experience of Eden in the resonance of our indwelling Spirit with the Divine. The psalmist presents a dialogue with God where the questions of why we would choose other than our relationship with Providence where we can find our true direction and destiny. The evidence of our past is that we refuse the finest wheat and sweetest nourishment in favour of our crumbling and discontent. Mark relates, in the text from the Gospel, the dialogue between Jesus and a scribe wherein the commandment to choose God above all is restated and the scribe is positioned as one near the Kingdom of Heaven for his understanding of this directive to life.