Readings:
Hosea 14:2-10; Psalm 81; Mark 12:28-34

‘Take all iniquity away so that we may have happiness again and offer you our words of praise. Assyria cannot save us, we will not ride horses any more, or say, “Our God!” to what our own hands have made, for you are the one in whom orphans find compassion.‘
Hosea 14:3, 4

One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.‘
Mark 12:28-32

‘The Lord our God is the one Lord.’ This belief in the one Lord formed Israel and distinguished her from all her polytheist neighbours. For the Jew, the gravest sin was idolatry, to worship any god other than the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Exodus account of the golden calf can leave the reader with the impression that idolatry consists of such crude practices, and that as we are not so tempted as individuals, as Church, or as nation, therefore idolatry is no longer a danger for us. This Hosea passage describes a form of idolatry which is all too familiar to us. Hosea sees Israel’s attempts to form alliances with Assyria, her trusting in the power of her armed forces, as examples of her idolatry, for she is putting her trust, not in Yahweh, but in her own strength and power. Loving the Lord your God with all your heart means living in such a way that God really is our ultimate good, our security, and that nothing else ‘which our hands have made’, must take God’s place.

We can be idolatrous, in fact, while believing that we are free of idolatry. How do I relate to my wealth, possessions, status in society, to my family and friends, my health and reputation? Provided none of these relationships are threatened, I may feel I have a healthy relationship to them all, grateful for them, but not over-attached. It is when they are threatened that my idolatry is uncovered. The more idolatrous our relationship, the more desperate we shall be if any of our securities are threatened, and the more ruthless we shall be in preserving them by any means in our power. It is for the reader to ponder and reflect whether Hosea’s message has anything to say to us today both as individuals and as a nation.

You must love your neighbour as yourself.’ The ‘as yourself’ has often been forgotten in the past, such emphasis being placed on self-sacrifice and self-forgetfulness that any consideration of one’s own needs was considered a weakness, unworthy of the dedicated Christian. This is a destructive teaching, which has been the undoing of many generous and committed people. In reaction to this, there is a modern emphasis on ‘as yourself’, on such a care for oneself and one’s own development, that the individual has neither the time, nor the interest, nor the energy to attend to anyone else. Looking after self becomes the first and greatest commandment, the idolatry. There is a good illustration of this in a book called Reweaving Religious Life by Mary Jo Leddy (Twenty Third Publications, Connecticut), which gives two imaginary obituary notices. The first is for Sister Immaculata, aged 86, who died in 1950, surrounded by her community singing the ‘Salve Regina’. Sr Immaculata had spent sixty years as an elementary school teacher and will be sadly missed. The other is of Sister Becky, aged 86, who died in 1999, surrounded by her Sisters at a sensitivity session. Sr Becky had spent one year as a teacher, was a youth minister for one year, a spiritual director for one year and a nurse for one year. The rest of her life was spent in preparation for these ministries!

A way of testing whether our love of self is God-centred or self-centred is to ask of our moods and inner feelings, when we come to review the day, ‘on whose behalf was I happy, sad, indignant, angry, delighted, and so on, and who is benefiting from what I am doing?’

Prayer
Lord, take me by the hand and lead me safely through the tortuous and labyrinthine ways of my own mind, so that I may find your path. Rid me of all hidden attachments to false idols, so that I may be free to love you with all my heart and my neighbour as myself. We ask you this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.