Hosea 5:15-6:6
The Lord says this: They will search for me in their misery. ‘Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us; he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds; after a day or two he will bring us back to life, on the third day he will raise us and we shall live in his presence. Let us set ourselves to know the Lord; that he will come is as certain as the dawn his judgement will rise like the light, he will come to us as showers come, like spring rains watering the earth.’ What am I to do with you, Ephraim? What am I to do with you, Judah? This love of yours is like a morning cloud, like the dew that quickly disappears. This is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets, why I slaughtered them with the words from my mouth, since what I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.
I am particularly touched today by the words from today’s first reading “that he will come is as certain as the dawn”.
I this time of great uncertainty, when the things that normally anchor us in life, health, activity, work, routines, social life, to name a few, we can easily find ourselves anxious, fearful or resentful.
That is why it is crucial to come down deep into oneself and discover there the abiding anchor which never passes. That which is always here, always true, and unfailing. Faith tells us that God is here. In these days we are invited to dwell deeply in the ground of our faith – that God is Here and his coming is as certain as the dawn. That anchor brings calm and peace to the troubled soul. It reconnects us to what is deepest in ourselves. We remember we are rooted in God’s abiding goodness.