Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Hosea 10:1-3.7-8.12; Matthew 10:1-7)
The Good Earth
is an epic story about a Chinese peasant who accumulates a fortune. Through hard work, shrewdness, and especially
the cooperation of his wife, the peasant becomes a rich landowner in the time
after the downfall of the Qing dynasty.
Tragically, the peasant takes into his home a local beauty leaving his
wife forlorn. The man’s sons, educated
but querulous, eventually plot to take apart the estate their father and mother
so diligently put together. The tale
reflects the trajectory of Israel as told by Hosea and other prophets of the
Northern Kingdom
In today’s first reading Hosea highlights the glory of
the Northern Kingdom. He calls it a “luxuriant
vine” with “abundant…fruit.” Hosea objective
in extolling Israel, however, is to contrast God’s gracious blessing on the nation
with the people’s meager response.
Rather than embrace more faithfully the God who has given them the land,
they worship him as only one god among others.
The prophet makes no compromises about their destiny. He predicts the destruction of the kingdom.
The nations of western civilization should take
warning. They too have been blessed by
the God whom their ancestors worshipped faithfully. Now they seem to follow other gods – not graven
images but desires for pleasure, power, and wealth. Some nations like Greek and Spain may be on
the verge of collapse. Others like the
United States face great challenges such as the lack of workers to support an
aging population. We pray for the grace
of conversion.
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