The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the freedom we experience through trust in God and our conformation to his Will that we embrace Love for all people and creation.
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| Freedom in trust and love |
Hosea outlines living with the dedication to sincere conversion and new life.
* [14:4] These good intentions promise a reversal of Israel’s sins: no more reliance on “Assyria,” i.e., on foreign alliances (see notes on 8:9 and 12:2), on “horses,” i.e., on human power (10:13), and on idolatry (8:4–6; 13:2). Israel will trust in the Lord alone.1
Psalm 81 exhorts if Israel repents, God will be with them once again.
* [Psalm 81] At a pilgrimage feast, probably harvest in the fall, the people assemble in the Temple in accord with the Sinai ordinances (Ps 81:2–6). They hear a divine word (mediated by a Temple speaker) telling how God rescued them from slavery in Egypt (Ps 81:7–9), gave them the fundamental commandment of fidelity (Ps 81:9–11), which would bring punishment if they refused to obey (Ps 81:12–13). But if Israel repents, God will be with them once again, bestowing protection and fertility (Ps 81:14–16).2
In the Gospel from Mark, Jesus connects the question of the scribe to the Great Commandment.
* [12:13–34] In the ensuing conflicts (cf. also Mk 2:1–3:6) Jesus vanquishes his adversaries by his responses to their questions and reduces them to silence (Mk 12:34).3
Barbara Dilly asks: What does the commandment to love God with all our hearts have to do with the prophet Hosea’s words about how God supports those who trust in Him? What does it have to do with the Psalmist’s reminder of our liberation?
Reflecting on these passages today helps me understand that Jesus is calling me to discern carefully where I place my trust, am I really listening to the one God, and am I responding to my faith wisely. Who or what is my God? Am I wasting my time with burnt offerings and sacrifices to alien gods when I should be focusing my life on loving God and others? Am I really listening to God? 4
Don Schwager quotes “The fire of God's love,” by Augustine of Hippo,354-430 A.D.
"Gravity keeps everything in its own place. Fire climbs up, while a stone goes down. Elements that are not in their own place are restless until they find it. This applies also to us. My weight is my love; wherever I go, I am driven by it. By the love of God we catch fire ourselves and, by moving up, find our place and our rest." (excerpt from Confessions 13,9)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Hosea 14:2-10 shares that today, just as in Hosea’s time, God continues to plead with his people to come back to him. Since Lent is all about God’s call to come home, let’s listen for his voice in the words of Hosea.
Take with you words (Hosea 14:3). God knows that the act of confessing our sins is the first step toward freedom. Naming them aloud is the best way to bring them into the light, where the Lord can free us. Isn’t this what happens in Confession? Our words of repentance have the power to unlock the chains that have dragged us down. It’s not always easy, though, to find the right words. But that doesn’t matter to the Lord.6
Friar Jude Winkler explains how Hosea saw his love of his unfaithful wife, Gomer, as a paradigm of the love of God for Israel. We love God with heart or intellect, soul or our very life essence, mind or conscience, and strength or our physical possessions. Friar Jude notes that the scribe who set out to trick Jesus concludes that Jesus has authority and wisdom.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, quotes Meister Eckhart [1], “The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me: my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, and one love” and reflects on what David Benner calls “spirit-centered awakening.” Love, trust, and freedom are characteristic experiences of God in our transformation to living in union with One.
References
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(n.d.). Hosea, chapter 14 - usccb. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/hosea/14
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(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
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(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
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(n.d.). 3rd Week of Lent - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations for .... Retrieved March 29, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/03/29
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(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: March 2019 - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved March 29, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2019/03/
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