The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today exhort us to a deeper experience of a living relationship of Love that springs from forgiveness.
The reading from the Prophet Hosea offers assurance of Forgiveness through 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.
* [14:9] Verdant cypress tree: the symbol of lasting life, the opposite of the sacred trees of the Baal cult (4:13). The Lord provides the “fruit” (peri) to Israel (2:7, 10), another instance of the wordplay on Ephraim (see notes on 9:16 and 13:15).
* [14:10] A challenge to the reader in the style of the wisdom literature. (Hosea, CHAPTER 14 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 81 praises God’s Appeal to Stubborn Israel.
* [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). (Psalms, PSALM 81 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus proclaims the First 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).
* [12:28–34] See note on Mt 22:34–40. (Mark, CHAPTER 12 | USCCB, n.d.)
Mary Lee Brock notes that Jesus says we must: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” And before that profound message can begin to sink in, Jesus says: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus says, “there are no other commandments greater than these”.
I am grateful for the ways I have been able to grow in my ability to love God and my neighbor, but I do not yet feel I am loving with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind and all my strength. As I prayed for the grace to understand how to grow in my ability to love, I was led to the Fall in Love prayer:
Fall in Love by Joseph Whelan, SJ and often attributed to Pedro Arrupe, SJ
Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything. (Brock, 2024)
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) (Schwager, 2017)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Hosea 14:2-10 comments that Hosea’s message is a moving reflection of how deeply God desires a living relationship with his people. He makes it clear that returning to the Lord does more than wipe our slate clean. It also opens up a process of healing between those who love one another.
God doesn’t want us to wallow in guilt, just as he didn’t want the Israelites to be lost in their sin. He doesn’t want to burden you with shame; he wants to set you free so that you can live as the beloved child you truly are.
Let’s all bring our words to the Lord so that he can bring us his healing, reconciling love!
“Holy Spirit, help me to speak words of truth and humility and love as I confess my sins.” (Meditation on Hosea 14:2-10, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler notes how the Two Paths of Deuteronomy and Jeremiah resonate in the passage from Hosea who asks “Why not accept the gifts of God?” Sin imprisons us in our selfishness and self centred attitude. Friar Jude reminds us of the connection of Jesus' declaration of the Greatest Commandment to the Shema Israel, the creedal formula that focuses our mind, possessions, conscience on single minded pursuit of God and surrender to Love.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, acknowledges the shift that is required to recognize and honor the soul of nature.
When God manifests spirit through matter, then matter becomes a holy thing. The material world is the place where we can comfortably worship God just by walking on it, loving it, and respecting it. Everything visible, without exception, is the outpouring of God. What else could it really be? The incarnation is not only “God becoming Jesus.” It is a much broader event, which is why John’s Gospel first describes God’s presence in the general word “flesh” (John 1:14). This is the ubiquitous Christ that we continue to encounter in other human beings, in a mountain, a blade of grass, a spider web, or a starling. [2] When we can enjoy all these things as holy, “we experience the universe as a communion of subjects, not as a collection of objects” as the “geologian” Fr. Thomas Berry said so wisely. [3]
When we love something, we grant it soul, we see its soul, and we let its soul touch ours. We must love something deeply to know its soul (anima). Before the resonance of love, we are largely inattentive to the meaning, value, and power of ordinary things to “save” us and help us live in union with the Source of all being. In fact, until we can appreciate and even delight in the soul of other things, even trees and animals, we probably haven’t discovered our own souls either. Soul knows soul through love, which Jesus teaches as the great commandment (Matthew 22:37–39). [4] (Rohr, 2017)
We ponder the role of forgiveness in our experience of the ancient Shema Israel that calls us to love God and neighbour with all our being.
References
Brock, M. L. (2024, March 8). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved March 8, 2024, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/030824.html
Hosea, CHAPTER 14 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved March 8, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/hosea/14?2
Mark, CHAPTER 12 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved March 8, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/12?28
Meditation on Hosea 14:2-10. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved March 8, 2024, from https://wau.org/meditations/2024/03/08/908854/
Psalms, PSALM 81 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved March 8, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/81?6
Rohr, R. (2017, November 9). God in All Things. YouTube: Home. Retrieved March 8, 2024, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/god-in-all-things/
Schwager, D. (2017, November 9). You Are Not Far from the Kingdom of God. YouTube: Home. Retrieved March 8, 2024, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2024&date=mar8
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