Reading of the Word of God

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Hosea 14,2-10

Israel, come back to Yahweh your God your guilt was the cause of your downfall. Provide yourself with words and come back to Yahweh. Say to him, 'Take all guilt away and give us what is good, instead of bulls we will dedicate to you our lips. Assyria cannot save us, we will not ride horses any more, or say, "Our God!" to our own handiwork, for you are the one in whom orphans find compassion.' I shall cure them of their disloyalty, I shall love them with all my heart, for my anger has turned away from them. I shall fall like dew on Israel, he will bloom like the lily and thrust out roots like the cedar of Lebanon; he will put out new shoots, he will have the beauty of the olive tree and the fragrance of Lebanon. They will come back to live in my shade; they will grow wheat again, they will make the vine flourish, their wine will be as famous as Lebanon's. What has Ephraim to do with idols any more when I hear him and watch over him? I am like an evergreen cypress, you owe your fruitfulness to me. Let the wise understand these words, let the intelligent grasp their meaning, for Yahweh's ways are straight and the upright will walk in them, but sinners will stumble.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Lent is the time of return. This is also underlined by this passage of the prophet Hosea, who exhorts Israel: "Return, o Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity" (v. 2). It is a truly opportune time to come to our senses and realise how great God's mercy is and how decisive his Word is for our lives. By listening to the Holy Scriptures, we understand our sin and learn how to turn to the Lord. The prophet exhorts the people: "Take words with you and return to the Lord" (v. 3). We could say that he indicates how to return to the Lord: it is a matter of making room in one's mind and heart for the Word that God himself addresses to us. Sin, in fact, begins its path of destroying the covenant when we abandon listening to the Word of God to listen to other words, other directions. Hosea makes this clear to the Israelites when he puts on their lips the words to say to God: "Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses; we will say no more, 'Our God,' to the work of our hands" (v. 3). The return to God, which the prophet and this time ask of us, is precisely to return to stand beside the Lord and listen to him. And he repeats to us: "I will heal their disloyalty, I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them" (v. 4). The Lord seems to be content simply with our affectionate closeness. We could say that it takes very little for him to be moved by us and fill us with his friendship.