THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Tuesday of 14th Week in Ordinary time, 2022

Hos 8:4-7.11-13

Ps 115

Matt 9:32-38

They love sacrificing

Dear friends in Christ, let it not be said of you that your going to Church or your worship is just for show. The judge of our actions is God. He sees each and everyone to the depth of their hearts. If we perform our actions just that we might be seen and praised by others, God knows, but if we do them from true love and with a sincere heart, God sees that too. God's delight is not in just praying or going to our places of worship but in actually living out our faith with true commitment.

Our first reading of today (Hosea 8:4-7.11-13) is a continuation of the story we started yesterday on a prophet whose life and marriage mirrored the relationship of Israel and God. In today's selection, we have a bit of history behind it. Hosea who was a prophet in Israel from the time of Jeroboam II (786-746 BC) saw in twenty years, six different kings in the land, four of whom were murdered by their successors. Just as that was going on, the worship of the calf was also going on in the shrine at Bethel, where they were making sacrifices unacceptable in the sight of God. God told Hosea, "Israel made kings but not through me. They set up princes, but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold, they made idols for their destruction. My anger burns against them..."

One cannot but wonder today, why the people of God went that way. Why the triple decay overtook them-- the decay of religion which led to moral decay and ended up with political decay. If we wonder about the people of old, do we also ask ourselves if we are not on the same path which led to their destruction? Are the three decays not present with us too? The bull which is called the calf of Samaria was made by human hands, of human design and effort, how can that be God? There is certainly the worship of the calf today, maybe not a physical one but a spiritual calf--the calf of prosperity; and those who do so care less about every other thing and the people around them. Even when they come to that wealth, they are still not satisfied as they live a wasteful life, when there are many other people in their families, both immediate and extended who are poor and just in need of very little to survive without anyone coming to their aid. God's judgment is: "Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt." Egypt was the land of their slavery and dehumanization under Pharaoh, Hosea, therefore, pronounces another exile for the people who have failed to listen to God.

Dear friends, again and again, God tells us that his delight is not in the gifts we offer, because it is impossible to bribe him. He delights rather in the efforts we make at doing what is right, in the help we render to others, and in the way we treat the poor of the land. It is only when we live right, can our offerings be right in his sight too.

Let us pray: Lord, let our offerings and sacrifices not be in vain. We shall not worship what we have made with our hands but you alone. Amen. 

+Remain blessed