Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

We continue following the prophet Hosea in today’s first reading. The passage describes how God has lovingly cared for his people, guiding them with affection even as they strayed from him. Today’s excerpt ends with God’s assurance that he will not destroy the people, despite their unfaithful behavior. Against those who would portray “the God of the Old Testament” as someone who is vindictive, the God described in this Old Testament passage is compassionate and forgiving, committed to the people whom he loves so dearly. This God – our God as described by the Old Testament – is a God of second chances. Throughout their history, the people have been intermittently faithful and unfaithful, one minute worshiping God and the next minute worshiping idols. God, however, remains faithful. Even though the people sin, God continues to claim them as his own.

There is no more vivid example of this than the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the ultimate “second chance.” Today’s psalm response proclaims, “Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved” (Ps. 80:4b). In Jesus, we see the face of the Lord; God incarnate in Jesus is God’s way of saving his people one last time. But of course, this tremendous act of love requires a response. It is not enough to kick back and relax in salvation. Rather, God calls us to live the gospel message.

We already see this foreshadowed in the commissioning of the Apostles described in today’s gospel passage from Matthew. “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give,” says Jesus to the Apostles as he describes their ministry (Mt. 10:8). The Apostles’ response to God’s love in Jesus is their work of proclaiming the kingdom, healing the sick, and driving out demons. In other words, the Apostles are to share the news of this last chance provided by Jesus. Lest we think this is some lovey-dovey sentimental “last chance,” Jesus tells the Apostles that those who do not listen to them will suffer on the day of judgment (Mt. 10:15).

There is an urgency here. We are not supposed to delay our response to God’s love in the person of Jesus. This is a second chance for us, but it is a second chance that we must strive to live at every single moment of every single day of our lives. As we live our days today, let us ask ourselves how we are consciously living the second chance provided by Jesus. How can we better offer our time, effort, and work to God as a loving response to his own faithfulness incarnated in his Son?

- Maria Morrow