“Prosperity Doesn’t Always Serve Us Well” by Colleen O’Sullivan

“Prosperity Doesn’t Always Serve Us Well” by Colleen O’Sullivan

Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Israel is a luxuriant vine whose fruit matches its growth.  The more abundant his fruit, the more altars he built; The more productive his land, the more sacred pillars he set up.  Their heart is false, now they pay for their guilt; God shall break down their altars and destroy their sacred pillars. “Sow for yourselves justice, reap the fruit of piety; break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain down justice upon you.”  (Hosea 10:1-2, 12)

Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out.  Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.  Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.     (Matthew 10:1, 5-7)

Piety

Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord!  (Psalm 105:2-3)

Study

Have you ever looked back over your life and realized that the times you felt closest to the Lord often coincided with the times you experienced the greatest adversity?  It sounds paradoxical until we own up to having functioned, in essence, as the lord of our life when things were going well.  Days of prosperity can be dangerous.  Those are the times when we forget who made us and put us on this earth, the One on whom we depend for every breath we draw.   We pat ourselves on the back as we look at all our achievements.  We are often so busy congratulating ourselves and seeking more applause and acclaim that we have no time for God or our brothers and sisters. 

That’s exactly what Hosea says happened to Israel.  The rest of the world looked upon Israel as a luxuriant vine resplendent with fruit.  But what did Israel do with their riches?  They forgot about their God.  Instead, they built altars to other gods.  The bigger the harvest, the more idols they erected.  They were setting themselves up for a fall.

Worshiping other gods or taking all the credit ourselves for the successes we enjoy is sustainable for only so long.  Inevitably, we experience failure of our plans.  We lose our job or maybe our marriage falls apart.  We fall sick because we’ve burned the candle at both ends.  We lose a loved one despite the best of medical care.  Something always happens that brings us face to face with God and the realization that we have forgotten the One who gave us life. 

In his day, Hosea said the Lord was going to break down and smash all the idolatrous things Israel had built.   The prophet’s advice then is still good today:  walk away from the self-worship, start anew, plow a new field, one where we can sow justice and reap piety.  Our world is certainly desperate for whatever we can spare from that harvest.

Action

It is always time to seek the Lord, to ask God to let us see ourselves as God sees us.  It’s never too late to ask for forgiveness when we’ve fallen away.  We are all at times the “lost sheep of Israel” Jesus sends his friends out to recover.  God always responds to our remorse by lovingly setting us back on our feet, dusting us off and, letting us begin anew.