Scripture for Tenth Sunday, Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Scripture: Hosea 6:3-6. Psalm 50:1,8,12-13,14-15.Romans 4:18-25. Matthew 9:9-13. Lectionary # 89: Sunday, the day in which we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, is an appropriate day for reflecting upon our gift of faith and for thanking God for it. The liturgical readings make it easy for us to do this. It just means taking some time to read them before the Mass and seeing how we can deepen our faith through them. We can call upon Jesus to both break the bread for us and to open up the Scriptures so that we may grow in our faith and love of Him. Today it is easy to reflect on our faith and to contrast it with not making it depend simply on formalities or rituals. Hosea, one of the earliest of the prophets, helps us to see that the heart of our worship and love of God consists in covenantal trust (faith) and love. The whole story reads like a love relationship between God the lover and the People of God, Israel. God wants us to open our hearts to the message of Hosea and to deepen that covenantal relationship we have with our God. Then we can easily see in our reflection on the Psalm response which is always a good exercise in our faith that it supports what Hosea is calling us to in this covenantal love. Paul always is helpful when it comes to deepening our faith. Today he shows us that Abraham, our ancestor in faith, is not to be isolated in what is credited to faith. We, too, are to be participants in the call of Abraham by our loving response in faith to God who is entrusting to us the covenant of love and fidelity. In Matthew we have a great example of how to be an apostle who responds at once to God's call. He leaves his work as a taxcollector and immeditely follows Jesus. Externals are no longer at the heart of his life, rather now it is a call to faithfully follow Jesus wherever this may take him. He shows his appreciation for the call and gift of his faith by having a dinner for Jesus at his home. Hospitality always is a sign of love and trust in those who are invited. We can learn today that we are called to be people who respond interiorly to the love of God. The response of faith is what leads us to such love and it is always seen as a covenant with our loving and merciful God. Amen.