THE COVENANT

The cross is not just a sacrifice but God's expression of His desire for love, relationship and a covenant with His people. There are many qualities of the covenant but there are 3 qualities unique only to the Book of Hosea where today's 1st reading is taken from. The time of Hosea which is calculated 721 BC was a hard and difficult time to prophesy. It was when assassinations happened, political upheaval and adulterated worship characterized by mixed worship of Yahweh and Baal was taking place. Hosea's style of prophecy is a parable of married love to describe Yahweh's relationship with His people. Hosea is a proponent of Yahwism. It is a doctrine of repetitious reminder (pescher) to the Jews that Yahweh has only been the savior of the chosen people in their history. The formula of Yahwism:"I am Yahweh who brought you out of Egypt." This evolved into what is later called "Salvation Theology", the covenant. This could be expressed as God after having created man and fallen into sin asked, "What am I going to do with my creation?  Hosea's prophecy was based on this. Yahwist tradition is the source and the beginning and God continues to sustain and nourish His people. The people of God who were set apart, chosen and privileged, as in this bible saying, "Hear ye O Israel, I am your God and there is no other God than Me." Hosea addresses the disorder in the kind of worship being offered to God. They have forsaken Yahweh in both rituals and moral life and did not follow what is expressed in the covenant, the decalogue (10 commandments) and the following 3 qualities below:

1. Fidelity is best described as a covenanted union which is best depicted in the image of marriage union: showing Yahweh and Israel as husband and wife. (Hos. 1-3) In this regard, infidelity to the covenant is best shown thru the images of sexual perversions and the breaking of the marriage vows. (Hos 4:14) Like Hosea's love to his unfaithful wife, Yahweh's fidelity to the union remains in spite of Israel's unfaithfulness. During that time there was presence of the worship to the pagan god Baal which contaminated the worship of God's people to Yahweh. Baal was believed by pagans as a god that gives fertility and fruitfulness.  This contamination resulted to impure rites of worshipping. Eventually the Jews no longer became a pure race and was even evident in the presence of several other races, the Samaritan as one. But more than the impurity of the race is the unfaithfulness manifested in the empty rituals and sexual perversion shown in adulterous and unfaithful relationships.

2. Loving Compassion- "I desire loving compassion and not sacrifice..."(Hos 6:6) Hesed is Hebrew for loving kindness. Hesed is the center of this love. Hesed is not quid pro quo. It is true devotion (both mind and heart) to the covenant partner. A sign of faithful love to His own people. True covenant partner has pity (rhm) Rhm true meaning is lost in English translation. Rhm is not just a sorrowful compassion but more of the attitude a mother has to her child. Like rehem or womb. The covenant is characteristic in all the prophets. In Isaiah it has mentioned, "Can a mother forget her child and even if she forgets, God will never forget." The cross before the time of Jesus used to stand for death. It is abhored and detested by people. Fr. Tony before proceeding with this talk that I am sharing with you, asked who would like to become a victim and as expected nobody raised a hand. When God became man, He embraced victimhood when he willingly died on the cross. During the ancient times or even in the book of Revelation in the bible the dragon stands for evil and is even symbolic of the serpent in Genesis. When Jesus came He did not slay the dragon but instead allowed the dragon to slay Him by dying on the cross which is rehem and Hesed. Of course Jesus rose from the dead with power on the 3rd day.  The Latin word sacrificere means to make sacred or holy. It is God's business to make man holy which is symbolized by the cross. Fr. Tony said that there are actually 8 days of creation. The 7 days as recorded in the bible and each day of our life as 8th day. God continues to create but with man as co-creator. Since it was man who made the mess in creation by giving in to sin, each day is an invitation to us to cooperate with God in making this world a better place.

3. Knowledge of God- the most important among 3 qualities. Personal knowledge/relationship of God and His attributes. (Hos 5:4) There is no true "Hesed" without knowledge which is wisdom or true intelligence as not only the world sees and knows of but is interwoven with life experiences. Knowledge here is more of deep spousal knowledge akin to marital union of 2 individuals becoming one. True union with no secrets, shared joy and sorrows as well as oneness of both bodies and souls. Love making (not sex) is a good example of this. (Gen 2:24 "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.") Even Jesus in Mk 2:19-20 compared Himself to a bridegroom. In Ephesians 5: 23-24 Jesus compares His eternal love for the Church as the love of a husband for his wife. See also Lk 1:34 when Mary said,"I have no knowledge of a man." and Jer.1:5 "...before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." This knowledge is encompassing and strives to reach the height and depth of God's unfathomable love.

I learned from the bible study that Abraham is the 1st recipient of God's revelation of Himself to mankind. He is considered as one of the Patriarchs to whom God chose to establish his covenant. Salvation history tells us of God's faithful love and continues to restore and bring back the broken relationship of God and man. It was through Abraham's total surrender to God's will to offer his son Isaac  that he foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus  as the Lamb of God. It is true that God started to reveal Himself to us through Abraham and the ultimate revelation was in Jesus His only begotten Son. The victimhood of Jesus to conquer evil not by slaying evil but by allowing Himself to be killed is the height of God's love. It should always be a treasure embedded in our hearts that should make us realize not to delay anymore and really seek the Lord. Amen. Hallelujah!

Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12

...it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain down justice upon you.”...12 “Sow for yourselves justice, reap the fruit of piety; Break upfor yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the LORD, till he comesand rain down justice upon you.”

There is a lot to learn from the life of Abraham especially the part when he kept on with his faith in God. He was already of age when God promised him to be the father of all nations. All we need to keep in mind is that our time will come and all we have to do is just continue to trust God in His goodness and mercy and never let go of our faith. Just imagine what Abraham had to go through. If it were us and not Abraham who had fallen into this kind of fate we could have responded and reacted to this situation differently. Are these words familiar to us? I do not deserve to be treated this way. I did not do anything bad for God to punish me like this, as if God is a tyrant that is ready to strike us with every wrong move. Why me and not the others who are a lot more sinful than I am. And all these kind of things that we say without much thought. If we are to look at the life of Abraham very closely we would discover that he never let go of his faith in God despite the seemingly irrational and hopeless situation he went through. Imagine in his old age when his wife Sarah finally bore him a son God asked him to offer him as a sacrifice which meant losing his son. He remained firm in his faith and continued to trust in the word of the Lord. Abraham was tested and found to be true. In our own lives, we too are called to prove ourselves worthy before the Lord in order for all of the blessings to flow freely without any block or hindrance. We don't expect a mango fruit if we planted a banana tree. It is pretty much the same with our lives. If we strive to live up to the expectations of a child of the Lord by giving Him honor and praise then we will surely be not disappointed with the outcome. For God inhabits the praises of His people. Although we have a tendency to forget or become out of focus since we are surrounded in this world we are in by elements most especially the physical ones that make us more inclined to pursue worldly things. We become sidetracked or worse completely off track of the path where God is leading us. Let us live every single day of our life conscious of the wonderful truth that we are God's people and He has made a covenant with us. Almost everybody knows this famous Christian song from kindergarten, “Father Abraham has many children, some of them are small, some of them are tall, all of them are beautiful...” We remain beautiful as long as we keep God's covenant and remain obedient and faithful to God. He is the reason for everything and the source of all good things. Sometimes morbid thoughts enter into our mind and immediately we'd think that it is always the devil who does it but whether it is true or not this thought could be a wake up call and reminder that in worst case scenarios or life and death situations there is always a God ready to help us at any time. All we have to do is call on Him. It is indeed good advice to always look intently on God and find all the joys waiting for us. There is really no doubt that we need to further explore, know and understand our faith. In doing so we have to constantly look to the Lord, seek Him and recall His goodness. Jesus' name is undeniably powerful and beyond measure. Its worth is more than all the riches we can gain in this world. There is really nothing we can find even if we search far and wide, high and low, more than what the Lord can offer. We could go on and on with so many options we are confronted with daily in our lives. There is an endless list of "To Do Things" but what comes first and last is always dependent on our priorities. In deciding on our priorities we have to always involve God in all the things happening around us. We would be so glad to discover that as we place Him in the center of our heart, body and soul He never fails in guiding and directing us. There is indeed great power in the name of Jesus. There is a need to go through the different seasons throughout the year for there is indeed a time and a season for everything. Thus, we all go through different situations and circumstances in life. Some of them do not make any sense if we fail to acknowledge the power of God moving in it. There are numerous things that we can think, focus and decide on but there’s only one thing I am sure of. We’ve got to acknowledge that despite of it all God’s power remains to be above all things no matter what it may seem to be. We should always keep in mind all the wonderful things He has done for us. The Lord will never forsake nor abandon us. In the midst of all the turmoil we inevitably face in our daily lives may we remain hopeful in the Lord who is Almighty, provides for all means and prevails now and forever. Whenever we experience difficulties in life we tend to question God right away and somehow blame Him for what came upon us. Sometimes we come to a point in our lives when we tend to question the will of God in our lives. I have plans and you have plans but sometimes things do not fall into place and ask why things happened the way it did and not the way we planned and expected. We just need to always remember the marvels the Lord has done and always hold on to it. If we live by the word of God which is perfect and remains forever then nothing could go wrong. Our hearts will abound with joy and gladness as we further explore, know and understand about our faith. In doing so we have to constantly look to the Lord, seek Him, recall His goodness, keep our spirits up and make our hearts rejoice like what today's psalm is telling us about. We may have experienced a situation in our life when we encountered a lot of trials and difficulties. Just when we're about to give up and lose hope, suddenly we came across a particular incident or inspiration that perfectly fits or matches our specific problem which gave us this hope and feeling that God knows exactly what we're going through and promises to see us through it. The Lord is telling us is in today's psalm and assures us that He remembers what He has promised and will surely bring about what He said to us that He would do. If God remembers, so must we. Every single day we are confronted with so many challenges in life and we have to be always hopeful that the fulfillment of everything that we have been praying for has come. We should believe that whatever delays or setbacks we are encountering serve as lessons to be learned that benefit our spiritual journey with Jesus. There is a need to go through the different seasons throughout the year before the dawning of a new beginning. There is indeed a time and a season for everything. It has the same message which is hope and victory for after the passion and death of Christ is His resurrection. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 105:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

R: Seek always the face of the Lord.

2 Sing to him, sing his praise, proclaim all his wondrous deeds. 3 Glory in his holy name; rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD! (R) 4 Look to the LORD in his strength; seek to serve him constantly. (R) 5 Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought, his portents, and the judgments he has uttered. 6 You descendants of Abraham, his servants, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones! 7 He, the LORD, is our God; throughout the earth his judgments prevail.

Where the Lord is present, there will surely be healing of all kinds of disease. And when we stand in His name then there can be no one who could stand before us for in the mighty name of Jesus we have the victory. Amen. Hallelujah!

Matthew 10:1-7

Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. ...Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”