Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

Foreword: Please join me this week on a journey, as we follow the Church’s readings through the Book of Hosea, an ancient prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. I think you and I both will discover that the life and message of Hosea are still relevant and needed today. Reading Hosea can help us to understand and appreciate more God’s love for us in Christ Jesus.

In today’s reading from the Book of Hosea, the prophet describes how, although Israel prospers now—with fruitful land and many religious sites (cf. Hos 10:1)—their continuing idolatry will lead them into divine punishment. Hosea does not escape ridicule for this (cf. 9:7), preaching doom in a time of affluence; however, God is trying his hardest to bring his people back to true worship and enjoy his covenantal love, as in a faithful marriage.

But “their heart is false” (10:2a) and their places of worship are actually occasions of sin (cf. 8:11). Once the people see what they have done, they will think it better to die under falling rock than to live with having worshipped a false god, made by human hands (cf. 10:8cd). But they can’t see it this way yet. Hosea gives them one last invitation to start anew, using a familiar image of farming: “Sow for yourselves justice; reap the fruit of piety; Break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the LORD.” (10:12b) But just as every farmer knows you reap what you sow, Israel has “cultivated wickedness, reaped perversity, and eaten the fruit of falsehood.” (10:13)

God wants from us true worship and authentic hearts—not mindless services and rote prayers. We have to put our hearts into it. If we really want forgiveness for our sins, we have to repent and turn from our old ways as best we can. God is waiting for us, like a faithful husband, with open arms.

Action: If you have something weighing on your heart today, now is a good time to get it off your chest. Consider receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation this weekend. God is merciful and is eager to show you it through his priests.

Reflection by Br. Luke Kral, OSB