Taking God's Abundance For Granted

Homily for Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The prophet Hosea speaks to a people who have allowed prosperity to dull their fidelity. “Israel is a luxuriant vine,” he says, but its fruit has been spent on altars of self‑interest rather than on the living God. The tragedy is not the abundance itself; it is the heart that forgets who gave the abundance in the first place. Hosea’s remedy is simple and demanding: “Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord.”

Psalm 105 answers that call with a different tone—one of remembrance. The psalmist urges us to “recall the wondrous deeds” of the Lord, because memory is the soil in which trust grows. When we remember God’s fidelity, our hearts soften; the fallow ground begins to break.

In the Gospel, Jesus sends the Twelve out with authority, but also with clarity: go first to the lost sheep, those whose hearts have grown fallow, those who have forgotten the nearness of God. The mission begins not with grand strategies but with simple presence—healing, lifting burdens, announcing that the Kingdom is already at hand.

For us, the readings invite a gentle examination. Where has abundance—comfort, routine, even good ministry—made the soil of our hearts a bit compacted? Where do we need to break open the ground again so the Word can take root with freshness?

And perhaps most importantly, Jesus reminds us that mission is never abstract. It begins with the people right before us: the sister who needs encouragement, the brother who carries a hidden worry, the community whose faith is strengthened by our steady presence.

May we seek the Lord with renewed hearts, remembering His deeds, and offering His nearness to those entrusted to us.