"Israel, come back to Yahweh your God. Your guilt was the cause of your downfall. Provide yourselves with words and come back to Yahweh. Say to him, take all guilt away and give us what is good, instead of bulls we will dedicate to you our lips." (Hosea 14: 2-3)
Sin causes one's downfall.
Only God can deliver us from our sins.
"A sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me."
"Merciful Father, fill our hearts with your love and keep us faithful to the gospel of Christ. Give us the grace to rise above our human weakness…." (Mass Prayer in Lent)
Our God is a merciful Father. We pray that He fills our hearts with the perfect love that drive out fear. At the Transfiguration, the Father urged us to listen to Jesus Christ. We ask here for the grace to be faithful to His gospel. Every action and every word of Jesus is part of His Gospel. But the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ is found in the Sermon on the Mount.
Finally in this prayer, we ask the merciful Father to give us the grace to rise above our human weakness. What are some of these human weaknesses?
St. John summarizes this beautifully in 1 John 2:16 –
"Lord, there is no god to compare with you; you are great and do wonderful things, you are the only God." (Psalm 86: 8, 10)
What god can be compared with our God?
These gods may have mouth but they do not speak. They may have ears but do not hear. They are powerless to save. Those who worship these gods bring much sorrow on themselves. These tiny gods are experts in taking advantage of their devotees. But our God saves. He provides all our needs in due season.
"Lord, take away our sinfulness and be pleased with our offerings. Help us to pursue the true gifts you promise and not become lost in false joys…." (Mass Prayer in Lent)
Take away our sinfulness = Take away our sinful tendencies
True gifts = Genuine gifts
The gifts that God promises are true and genuine. Some of them are:
"So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own home, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than himself attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil." (Luke 11: 21-22)
Satan is the strong man. Christ is the stronger man. Thank you Jesus for your word and your strength. I delight in your strength.
Jesus is stronger than Satan.
Satan guards his possession. When Jesus comes, He attacks, defeats Satan and frees the prisoner. He takes away all Satan's weapons and shares out his spoil.
