Lenten Journey, March 12

Merciful Father, fill our hearts with your love and keep us faithful to the gospel of Christ. Give us the grace to rise above our human weakness.

Hosea 14: 2-10
Thus says the LORD:Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words,and return to the LORD;Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,and receive what is good, that we may renderas offerings the bullocks from our stalls.Assyria will not save us,nor shall we have horses to mount;
We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’to the work of our hands;for in you the orphan finds compassion.”
I will heal their defection, says the LORD,I will love them freely;for my wrath is turned away from them.I will be like the dew for Israel:he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,and put forth his shoots.His splendor shall be like the olive treeand his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.Again they shall dwell in his shadeand raise grain;They shall blossom like the vine,and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.“I am like a verdant cypress tree”– Because of me you bear fruit!

Let him who is wise understand these things;let him who is prudent know them.Straight are the paths of the LORD,in them the just walk,but sinners stumble in them.

In this Lenten season, we find comfort in Hosea’s record of God’s response: “I will heal their defection, says the Lord, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them.” His imagery of moisture, green leaves, tender blossoms, and juicy fruit coming forth in the midst of an arid land resonates with us here in the snow-covered Midwest as we wait for spring. Like the desert, our snow-covered world presents a lifeless vista that is waiting for the breath of God. Although we have a glimpse of this living breath each spring, in another sense our world seems to remain always in winter as we await the fulfillment of all things, including the promise of bodily resurrection and a world where death no longer dwells with us.

But while we wait for that fulfillment, we know that God has breathed His life into us, and through divine love the dust from which we are formed has become beloved. He invites us to dwell with Him and with one other in relationships transformed by His love.

God of Mercy, We feel my heart overflowing with your tenderness. We sense your loving touch deep within my soul. We ask for your help in my weakness that we might be faithful to your word and we are so grateful that your mercy for our failings is as strong as your unbounded love for us. Amen