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The Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Today’s first reading, taken from the Old Testament, is a prophecy against the divided Kingdom of Israel and the empty piety popular among the Israelites. The prophet Hosea compares this piety to the morning dew that passes away in the heat of the afternoon.

The Church selected this passage from Hosea 6:3-6 to give us a sort of identity check. Is our piety like that of the Israelites? Is it simply a morning prayer or limited to our attendance at Sunday Mass? Is our devotion to God driven by the inner force of a faith that loves God above all things, including even what we drive and the clothes we wear? Or, are we simply Christians on the surface, waiting to get out of the Sunday liturgy so we can be the first in line at the local popular restaurant?

The psalm that follows rebukes those Israelites whose worship lacks personal faithfulness, yet is full of animal sacrifice. God says, “Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer praise as your sacrifice to God; fulfill your vows to the Most High. Then call on me in time of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall honor me” (Ps 50:13-15). Ritual presupposes faith.

We are then presented with two Biblical role models of heroic faith. The second reading recounts what St. Paul wrote to the Catholic Church in Rome (Romans 4:18-25) where he presents the awesome faith of Abraham who “believed, hoping against hope … he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God.”

The Gospel written by St. Matthew in Matthew 9:9-13 recounts his own conversion as a mini-biography. Matthew simply “got up and followed” Jesus, a complete act of self-surrender and faithfulness to the Lord who simply said, “Follow me.”

The Catholic idea of faith is best described as how a child trusts and relates to his father. Dad provides; he protects; his arms provide a resting place of comfort. An infant’s dependence upon its father is total. There’s an innate, natural confident reliance and surrender. This concept comes from the lips of Jesus, who is the total, complete self-revelation of God the Father.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say:

Faith is certain. It is more certain than all human knowledge because it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie. To be sure, revealed truths can seem obscure to human reason and experience, but the certainty that the divine light gives is greater than that which the light of natural reason gives. 10,000 difficulties do not make one doubt.(#157)

For the very reason that our Heavenly Father is all good, all loving, all true, and all holy, we know with complete certainty that whatever he says or asks of us is absolutely trustworthy. Our Catholic Faith rests upon a foundation more solid than a rock.