Good morning good people. May the Lord give you peace and health in the Holy Spirit.

It is 08th March 2024. We reflect on Hosea 14:2-10 and Mark 12:28-34.

Salvation and happiness are with God always.

What an assurance of love we get from God today in the first reading. This prophecy comes at a time when people worshipped false gods wilfully and looked for happiness and prosperity from false prophets and preachers. Disloyalty and spiritual decay were so visibly noticed in the lives of people eating them gradually and invading God’s sacred space in the lives of God’s people.

During this time, through Hosea, God promises God’s blessings to them even after knowing their hearts go after sins easily.

Salvation and happiness are with God always.  There is no one and no human skilful security that could protect us from the horrible jaws of evil. God vows to heal our unfaithfulness and to love us with everlasting and unconditional love.

“It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress, from me comes your fruit.” (Hos. 14:8).

We just need to hold on to God to bloom in our daily lives. Sinful living and our love for sins never bring happiness, peace, and security. The Gospel teaches us to prioritize God in our loving relationship with one another.

This supreme love we have for our God is the true worship that must culminate in our neighbour. God is the foundation, the reason, and the meaning of our love. We get the unfailing stamina to love our neighbour from the love of God.

Unless we love God, we cannot go on loving the other.

We need to offer our 100% in loving God to experience the depth of love of the other. It will be indeed extremely impossible to love other human beings when we are incapable of experiencing the fountain of love and the wellspring of all love that is God.

If our priority to love shifts from God to our neighbour, we might end up in humanism, guilt, pity, sentiments, seeking recognition and appreciation. The altruistic love is what leads us to go beyond the ego and nepotism.

May God help us to love God and our neighbour in our day-to-day living.

May you have a good day.

Fr. Peter Fernando, OFMCap.
Director, Office of Family Ministry, Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia (AVOSA).Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.♣Website:https://reflectionsofpeter.org/.♣Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/samarpet