6 July 2020
Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Hosea was a prophet during a time of moral decline. He understood that the people of Israel were forsaking the covenant that they had made with their God by adopting fashionable moral and religious practices from the people around them. Their pursuit of popularity entailed wiggling out of non-negotiable commitments with the God who loved them. It was like a wife wiggling out of her non-negotiable commitment to her husband in order to pursue a life of prostitution. That’s how the prophet Hosea saw it.
His prophecy is this: Israel shall first be punished and then redeemed. All the glamor had been so attractive will be stripped away: the food, the charming company, the clothes, the estates, the power, etc. etc. After all these things are taken away, God promises, “I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart” (Hosea 2:16). What will God say to the heart of Israel, out there in the desert? “I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the Lord” (Hosea 2:21-22).
In Hosea’s prophecy we can see the outlines of the spiritual life: the purgative way, the illuminative way, and the unitive way. We can also see the stages of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. Seclude yourself, perhaps on a retreat. Set aside as much of your creature comforts as you can. Turn to the Lord. Wait for him to act.