+ What amazing readings we have on this third Friday of Lent. Fridays in Lent are always
geared remotely to the events that take place on Good Friday – which will be
three weeks from today! This particular Friday we see the inner workings of the
very heart of God the Father – the Fatherly tenderness that yearns for his
people’s return and repentance. He is always poised like a mother lion to come
quickly to the aid of her errant children – but they must make the first move
because they have free will. If they freely chose to walk away from her (Him in
this case, God the Father), then it is they who must of their own free-will and
desire turn a face the other way: the way that leads back to him: but he is
there in a flash to aid them and welcome them every step of the way:
and so the book of Hosea tells
us:
It is
God who speaks:
Return,
O Israel, to the Lord your God; you have collapsed because of your guilt. Take
with you words (of repentance) and return to the Lord. ….. Then, later, 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(fall) for Israel, he shall
blossom like the likely; He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar, and put
forth his shoots.
What an amazing story, a
love-story unparalleled.
In the gospel passage we have
enumerated the life-style of those who truly “get it,” get the message and
meaning of being a disciple of Christ, a member of the new people of God, a partaker
in the redemption wrought and available to those who to this day pause, reflect
on the direction of their lives, and who choose to follow the standard of the
Cross, rather than the deceptive and dangerous standard of the world – based on
lies, and perjury and chaos, and start marching in the correct direction: to
the Bridge that leads across the River Chaos and Catastrophe, and into the new
Promised Land of Joy and Peace.
Yes, the Kingdom is to come,
yet it is already here – and it dwells primarily for us, deep inside of us –
who are members of his Mystical Life, his Mystical Kingdom, his very real,
risen, glorified Mystical Body!
Amen.
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