Like the Spring Rain

Like the Spring  Rain

March 9, 2013

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

“Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD; as certain as the dawn is his coming, and his judgment shines forth like the light of day!  He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth.”  What can I do with you, Ephraim?  What can I do with you, Judah?  Your piety is like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away.  For this reason I smote them through the prophets, I slew them by the words of my mouth; For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.  Hosea 6:3-6

But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’  I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.  Luke 18:13-14

Piety

Have mercy on me, a sinner.

Study

Hosea's mission took place around 700 years before the birth of Christ and more than 2500 years before Eduardo Bonin and his group reunion conceived of the Cursillo movement.  Yet right there in the passage that is our first reading today we have the three pillars of our Cursillo tripod. 

Your piety is like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away.  Our piety has to provide a solid foundation upon which to build our life in friendship with Jesus.  We are not looking for some magic formula like that the Pharisee uses in the Good News.  Each of us has to find her or his own ways of piety. 

What spiritual aids helped me to grow this week? We have to have a basic relationship with Christ if we are to persevere and become a real Christian and Leader.  How have I grown in Christ’s love?  When was I most aware of Christ’s presence and why?

Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD; as certain as the dawn is his coming, and his judgment shines forth like the light of day!  He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth.”  What means of study have I used to learn more about Christ this week?   Don’t waste your time reading merely good books. Read only the best ones.

For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.  Action expressed through love and mercy -- not sacrifice -- it what brings us closer to God when it is practiced in addition to piety and study.  Action without the support of piety and study is just social work.  Not that mere social work is bad.  Our world and our nation and our communities and families and individuals rely upon the kindness of strangers.  But our piety, study and action elevate our kindness to the level of perfection encouraged by Jesus.

Action

As we pass more than the halfway point of the Lenten journey to Easter, how are you doing with your plans for prayer, fasting, almsgiving?  The Lord's sacrifice will shower upon us all like the spring rain.  It will not veer off from the sinners.  It will cover all the living and all the dead.  It will cover all the saintly and all the flawed.  Although we may not be perfect (yet), we have infinite opportunities to change the direction in which we look for happiness.