March 18, 2023

Hosea 6:1-6

‘Come, let us return to the Lord;
  for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
  he has struck down, and he will bind us up.

After two days he will revive us;
  on the third day he will raise us up,
  that we may live before him.

Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
  his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
  like the spring rains that water the earth.’

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
  What shall I do with you, O Judah?

Your love is like a morning cloud,
  like the dew that goes away early.

Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
  I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
  and my judgment goes forth as the light.

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
  the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Overcoming Challenges

Now that springtime is around the corner, the prophet Hosea speaks of God’s care being like spring rain that revives the dormant. During this season of Lent the pruning, the forming, the fostering that God provides through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving enable us to prepare for the challenges we face and the resurrection we experience when we overcome them. 

Name a challenge you are facing this Lent. Ask that God help you meet that challenge and overcome it.  

—Fr. Chris Manahan, SJ, is the Midwest Province provincial assistant for senior Jesuits and pre-tertians and former director of Jesuit Retreat House on Lake Winnebago, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He is on the board of Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House.

Prayer 

We who revere and find hope in our God
live in the kindness and joy of God's wing.
God will protect us from darkness and death.
God will not leave us to starve. 

Rain down, rain down, rain down your love on your people.
Rain down, rain down, rain down your love, God of life. 

—“Rain Down” by Jamie B. Cortez, © Oregon Catholic Press.