Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The book of Hosea concludes with a passionate invite to return to the Lord: "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God." In order to avoid a superficial return, the prophet invites Israel to prepare the words to say to the Lord: one cannot present to God improvising and in a hurry. The awareness of our sin, the request of forgiveness and the awareness of our need are the indispensable conditions to allow God to enter our heart and heal it. This is why the prophet urges the people: "Take words with you." The encounter with God requires interiority, that is the awareness of our limits and the need to be saved. Only God can save us. We can think of the inner toil of the prodigal son described in the Gospel of Luke. The sadness of his condition and the awareness of his sin are indispensable to make the decision to return to the Father. The son prepares the words of the return even if later the Gather will not even allow him to say them. The text shows clearly that conversion implies the renunciation to worship idols, as well as the renunciation to the tools of war (the horses) in order to choose spiritual sacrifices to God who is mercy: "Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; we will say no more, 'Our God', to the work of our hands. IN you the orphan finds mercy." The forgiveness and love offered by God perform the miracle: Israel is restored to health and Israel finds a new spring: he shall blossom like the lily; he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon; his beauty shall be like the olive tree and shall sit beneath God's shadow. The life of those whose hearts repent and return to the Lord is imagined like a blossoming garden and a spring that can offer shelter and quench the thirst of those who come close to it.