Rev. Daniel E. Pilarczyk

The Church has been leading us in a change of heart for three weeks. Hosea now presents us with some questions. Am I any closer to God than I was before? What’s the quality of my repentance?

There’s nothing wrong with self-esteem, power, comfort, control, success, wealth, or amusement as long as they are secondary and subordinate to our relationship with God.

God guides our behavior by the needs of the poor. He leads us in prayer. But we don’t always pay heed to God’s guidance.

Azariah’s prayer is appropriate for us to recall in our season of Lenten repentance. We have no right to God’s care. We can only ask for God’s mercy.

God’s mercy is offered to us because God is God. We are members of a sinful people. Yet God cares for us anyhow.

In the Book of Micah the author first prays for the prosperity of the people. Then in a kind of litany of forgiveness, he speaks of the blessings that God offers to them.