Breaking the Word

3^rdweek in Lent, Friday – 17^th March 2023 – Hosea 14,2-10; Mark 12,28-34

Blessings of Greenness of Love

In this closing part of the book of Hosea, the prophet speaks about turning away from our sins and returning to the Lord. More than any other prophet, Hosea is very descriptive about God’s love for His people. He invites the people who are close to God’s heart to return to Him. He says the troubles they have been experiencing are due to their alienation from God. If they will only come back to Him, where they belong, they will bear rich fruit, produce a fragrant smell, and have abundant life. God is only too anxious to shower his love and gifts on them. God brings healing for them saying, “I shall cure them of disloyalty, I shall love them with all my heart” (Hos 14,4). And He promises abundant blessings expressed in lovely phrases taken from plant life, “I will be like the dew for Israel, they will blossom like the lily – they will strike root like the forests of Lebanon and put forth shoots splendid as the olive tree – fragrant as a cedar of Lebanon – produce grain and blossom like the vine – become as famous as the wine of Lebanon” (Hos 14, 5-7). God compares himself to the greenness of a cypress tree, a source of life and fruitfulness for his people. Thus, God continues to manifest His total and unconditional love for his chosen people.

3^rd week in Lent, Thursday – 16^th March 2023 – Jeremiah 7,23-28; Lk 11,14-23

State of Regress

In the first reading, Jeremiah is told by the Lord that even though he and the other prophets have tried to get His Chosen people on the right track, they have chosen to go another way. Instead of turning their faces to God, they have turned their backs to God and are heading away from God. Therefore, he makes strong statements about how God’s people do not listen to his words. The covenant was, “Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Follow right to the end the way that I mark out for you, and you will prosper.” But that did not happen because “they followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face me, and turned their backs on me.” In the wilderness, God did not request sacrifices and oblations from the Israelites rather simple obedience. They were asked to walk in the way of righteousness and God’s command. Instead, the chosen people in Jeremiah’s time never hearkened God’s words; they despised His counsels; they walked in the imaginations of their evil heart and they went backward and not forward. Hence, instead of becoming more wise, obedient, and holy, they grew more corrupt; so that they became more reckless than their fathers. Morally and spiritually, they were in a state of regress, not in progress.