7.14.2006

hosea and the news

Today's headline: Israel Widens Scope of Offensive in Lebanon.

Today's first reading is from Hosea:

Thus says the LORD:
Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;
you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words,
and return to the LORD;
Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,
and receive what is good, that we may render
as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us,
nor shall we have horses to mount;
We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion.”
I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and raise grain;
They shall blossom like the vine,
and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?
I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.
“I am like a verdant cypress tree”—
because of me you bear fruit!

Let him who is wise understand these things;
let him who is prudent know them.
Straight are the paths of the LORD,
in them the just walk,
but sinners stumble in them.

Hmm..... Seems to me like God was telling me to pray for my brothers and sisters in Lebanon and Israel.

For the civilians:

Friday's attacks killed three civilians, police said, bringing the death toll in Lebanon since Wednesday to 61 people, nearly all of them civilians. At least 165 people have been wounded. ...

In Lebanon, frightened civilians struggled to flee the airstrikes, an increasingly difficult prospect after the airport was bombed repeatedly and the main highway to Syria was destroyed, leaving remote mountain roads as the only way out of the country. ...

Air raid sirens wailed intermittently throughout Israel's northern border area, amid calls for people to take cover in basements. More than 90 people were treated in local hospitals Thursday, most of them for symptoms of anxiety, officials said.


And for wisdom and compassion on the part of their leaders.

"Straight are the paths of the LORD, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them." We certainly seem to be stumbling. Too bad innocent people have to die in the process.

2 comments:

PV said...

That´s awful what is happening there. I watch the news at 2-3 days. And as the weeks passed the situation there became worse and worse. I am really afraid that a larger war will break.:-(. We should pray for them.

The Ironic Catholic said...

Excellent post.