Hosea 14:2-10 / Mark 12:28-34
Generally speaking, we can say, and we believe it too, that those who are faithful to God and walk in His ways will be blessed by God.
Of course having said that, the blessings that we look forward to are not just here in the temporal world but more importantly in the world to come.
The 1st reading gives a picture of what the blessings are - I will fall like dew on Israel. He shall bloom like the lily, and thrust out roots like the poplar, his shoots will spread far; he will have the beeauty of the olive and the fragrance of Lebanon.
Yes the blessings of the Lord gives the image of beauty and peace and tranquillity and contentment.
Yet to inherit these blessings means that we have to abide with what Jesus said in the gospel: You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And you must love your neighbour as yourself.
It is that simple and straight-forward, and yet it is not at all easy and we stumble and fall along the way.
We may even get discouraged and hence it would be easier to say "Our God!" to what our own hands have made.
It is easier to fall for the things of this passing world than to be faithful to God and His ways and to hope patiently for His blessings in another world.
Yet just as Assyria cannot save Israel, nothing material on earth can ever save us.
We can only say to the Lord our God: Take all iniquity away so that we may have happiness again. And let us ask the Lord to show us His ways and teach us His paths (Ps 25:4)