Friday is a day of deep covenant. It is the day where we are reminded that our relationship with God is not a contract, but a love story. Le...
Friday is a day of deep covenant. It is the day where we are reminded that our relationship with God is not a contract, but a love story. Let us reflect on: Love, Loyalty, and Lebanon.
Everything in our faith boils down to Love. When the scribe asks Jesus which commandment is the first of all, Jesus doesn't give a list of "don’ts." He gives a "do." Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the "Total Love" that Lent calls us toward. It is a love that consumes every faculty of our being. And it must overflow into loving our neighbor as ourselves. Without this love, all our Lenten fasts and penances are just "empty calories" for the ego. Love is the fuel and the goal of our journey.
But love requires Loyalty. Hosea pleads with the people to return to the Lord and say, "We shall say no more, 'Our god,' to the work of our hands." This is a call to radical loyalty. How often do we worship the "work of our hands"—our careers, our reputations, our digital devices? Loyalty means recognizing that only God can save us. He is the one who "heals our defection" and "loves us freely." Our loyalty is our response to His prior, unwavering faithfulness to us.
When we return to God with love and loyalty, something beautiful happens. Hosea describes it as blossoming like the lily and having the fragrance of Lebanon. In the ancient world, the cedars of Lebanon were the peak of strength and beauty. To have the "fragrance of Lebanon" means to be so filled with God's grace that people can "smell" the holiness in us. Our lives become attractive; they become a source of shade and fruit for others. Today, let us root ourselves in the love of God so that we may grow strong as the cedars and fragrant as the fields of Lebanon.
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