Well, I slept late, had a great vacation, and here is your first reading of the day:
Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13
First, I want to share a little of what I just read in the NAB introduction to Hosea about this new book that I don't know much about:
"Hosea belonged to the northern kingdom and began his prophetic career in the last years of Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.)...The prophecy pivots around his own unfortunate marriage to Gomer, a personal tragedy which profoundly influenced his teaching. In fact, his own prophetic vocation and message were immeasurably deepened by the painful experience he underwent in his married life.

Gomer, the adulteress, symbolized faithless Israel. And just as Hosea could not give up his wife forever even when she played the harlot, so Yahweh could not renounce Israel, who had been betrothed to him. God would chastise, but it would be the chastisement of the jealous lover, longing to bring back the beloved to the fresh and pure joy of their first love.

Israel's infidelity took the form of idolatry and ruthless oppression of the poor. No amount of mechanically offered sacrifices could atone for her serious sins. Chastisement alone remained; God would have to strip her of the rich ornaments bestowed by her false lovers and thus bring her back to the true lover. A humiliated Israel would again seek Yahweh. The eleventh chapter of Hosea is one of the summits of Old Testament theology; God's love for his people has never been expressed more tenderly. Hosea began the tradition of describing the relation between Yahweh and Israel in terms of marriage."

I know that was long, but I think it may be important to understanding the Hosea readings. Now I've forgotten the whole reading, and I've gotta go back and read again...

So, they made kings, but not by God's authority. Apparently, the Israelites had a rebellion against the Davidic line, and put their own ruler in place, who then put up idols in several temples. Hosea goes on to describe that idols are stupid and empty, and that people who believe in them are stupid and empty. (Yes, my words, not Hosea's)

Hosea goes on to talk about Ephraim, who built a whole bunch of altars, thinking that it would help to fight sin, but it had the opposite effect. This is the footnote about that in the NAB: "The very multiplicity of sanctuaries throughout the land was a danger to the purity of worship. The local shrines were speedily assimilated to the cult places used by the Canaanites, and the Lord was identified with the god Baal worshiped there. Thus the Deuteronomic writers, influenced by prophetic ideas, ended by restricting sacrificial worship to the one temple in Jerusalem."

Hosea also goes on to talk about how his words are not heeded, which I'm sure he felt all over, from his home life to the general population that he was trying to get to listen to his prophecy. But he was wrong. His words have lived thousands of years, and influenced biblical law and writings forever. He ends with a threat. Because Israel has been so sinful, they will go back to Egypt. I assume that to mean that they will go back to slavery. God is so tired of their empty promises and mechanical gestures that he wants to strip everything from Israel so that they will be happy to come back to him again. I guess the analogy of the nation fallen away from God to the wife fallen from her husband seems pretty apt. The lesson that I take from this reading is what I get over and over and over from the old testament: God should be the most important thing in your life, don't worship anything or put anything in front of him. Sounds simple. What does God want from us? Love. More love than we give anything or anybody else.

On to the Gospel:
Matthew 9:32-38

It seems like in Jesus' day, there were a lot of people who were possessed by demons. I know that popular interpretation of this tends to lean towards the idea that ancient people attributed unknown illnesses and mental illnesses to demon possession. I like to think that there were actual demons. The world had gotten so rotten, so unlivable, so filled with real hardship and supernatural hardship that it was the best time in history for Jesus to come and save it.

Anyway, he's going around, exorcising demons, and the Pharisees started laying the groundwork for future persecution by claiming that Jesus only had the power to drive out demons by the power of the prince of demons, not God.

But Jesus just goes on with his work. He travels, heals, preaches, and exorcises. He becomes so saddened by the lost state of mind of the people that he encounters that he asks the disciples to pray to God for more "laborers for his harvest". The NAB footnotes to say that "It presupposes that only God (the master of the harvest) can take the initiative in sending out preachers of the gospel" I'm okay with that interpretation. That is why before someone becomes a priest or a preacher that they get "the call", right?

Anyway, that's all I got for today.

Here's your news story: Dissident Anglican bishops may seek refuge in Rome