Reading 1
Hos 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 render
as 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 tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and 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.
Gospel
Mt 10:16-23
Jesus said to his Apostles:
"Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men,
for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.
Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man comes."
Meditation: Hosea 14:2-10
Take with you words, and return to the Lord. (Hosea 14:3)
Father, what kind of offering can I make as I return to you? I’ll bring you the secrets of my heart: the things I dare not admit to anyone else. I’ll bring you the anger that has spilled from me and stained the people I love. I’ll bring you the lies that have steamed out of me and the lust that has boiled inside me. I’ll bring you the bitterness, the judgments, and the grudges that cloud my sight and numb my heart.
Forgive me, Father, for insisting on being independent from you. It hasn’t freed me at all. Instead, it has made me dependent on other people and things: my own strength and wits, flatterers and slanderers, alcohol and food. Forgive me for taking the gifts you have blessed me with and using them for my own ends, at my own convenience. I’m sorry for all the hours, days, and months that I have spent serving myself more than I serve you. I’m sorry for bowing to the things I have acquired while overlooking the needs of your children around me.
You have called me, Lord, and so I come. Forgive my guilt, and release me from shame. I am sorry that I exchanged the garments of salvation and robes of righteousness for the rags of self-righteousness and self-centeredness. Clothe me once again in your mercy! Forgive my disobedience! Heal my defection from you, and restore me to the position of a beloved child in your house. Thank you for overlooking my sins so that I may repent. I believe that you will have mercy on me because you can do anything.
Thank you, Father, for hearing me and accepting my offering. Thank you for consuming it in the blazing fire of your love. Thank you that, in exchange for the dark secrets of my heart, you give me the brightness of your loving and merciful heart. I know I can trust in your love for me. I believe that it is greater than my love for myself. Soften my heart, Father, so that I can receive what you want to plant in me today: love and gentleness, purity and faithfulness.
“Father, as I return to you, I take with me these words of repentance and surrender. I know you will hear and answer me!”
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