2026 Spring of Water Cycle
The Twelve Minor Prophets
This year our Spring of Water meditations will draw inspiration each month from one of the twelve minor prophets. They are called minor prophets not because they are of less importance, but because of the brevity of their writings. May their profound wisdom bring us back to the essential nature of our relationship with God!
Israel, the people of the Covenant, chosen, loved, and called by God, betrayed YHWH. The prophet Hosea tells us: “The word of the Lord came to Hosea: Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of prostitution, for the land is guilty of prostitution by departing from the Lord … So he went and took Gomer” (Hosea 1:1-2). The children born will be called “Unloved” and “Not My People,” names with symbolic meanings, signifying judgment and rejection of the people. The woman represents the nation of Israel, which practiced idolatry and a kind of spiritual prostitution, seeking political alliances with enemy nations such as Egypt and Assyria, instead of trusting only in God. God had given everything to His people: yet it was not enough, and the idols prevailed. Just like Monica’s daughter who followed other “gods” and allowed herself to be led by those who promised something more secure and attractive.
I PONDER: I become aware of the idolatries in my life today. Perhaps I too “prostitute” myself, that is, I allow myself to be corrupted: when I give up the inner space once occupied by values to other “gods,” such as success, money, fame, the judgment of others, social status…
I ASK MYSELF: What do I think about for most of my day? Who or what has primacy in my thoughts? Who dwells in my heart? To whom does my body belong? What do I give my time to during the day?
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God’s response to the idolatrous people is surprising, incomprehensible to human eyes. One would expect some form of retributive justice, a punishment to be suffered, a price to be paid for betrayal. The denial of the one God in favor of multiple lesser gods must be punished: there is the court, the severe judgment, the accounts that must be settled. This is how we humans act: according to justice.
But how does God respond? Hosea reveals His words: “Therefore, I will allure her to me… I will speak to her heart… You will call me, ‘My husband,’ and you will no longer call me, ‘My master’… I will make a covenant… I will give her rest. I will make you my bride forever, I will make you my bride in justice and in law, in kindness and in love, I will betroth you to me in faithfulness” (Hos 2:16-22).
We are stunned: how is this possible? Faced with the idolatrous rejection of his people, God’s response is to renew the covenant? And to do so forever? He also expresses it in an unequivocal and passionate way, like a man madly in love with His wife or, in some later chapters, like a father, not at all vindictive to his son who is drifting away: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called them, the more they went from me; they sacrificed to the Baals, they burned incense to idols… I taught Ephraim to walk, taking him by the hand… I bent down to him to feed him. … My heart is moved within me, my compassion is stirred. … I will not give vent to my fierce anger, for I am God and not man.” (Hos 11:1-9) Indeed, this is our God.
We find ourselves facing not a God of justice rather a God like this. Hosea is proposing a true revolution, one that Jesus will complete. Pope Leo writes: “Jesus said to those who were with him: ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.’ (Jn 14:27)…The way of Jesus continues to cause unease and fear. He firmly repeats to those who would defend Him by force: ‘Put your sword back in its place’ (Jn 18:11; cf. Mt 26:52).”[2] The Father is not thirsty for justice but for something new: peace. The Pope continues: “The peace of the risen Jesus is unarmed, because his was an unarmed struggle in the midst of concrete historical, political, and social circumstances. Christians must together become prophetic witnesses of this novelty.”
I PONDER: God, despite being betrayed, renews the covenant despite the treacherous people. He acts with mercy, that is, feeling in his heart the misery of others as his own.
I ASK MYSELF: God does it with me too. His mercy shows the way forward, not the score of what is owed. How does his merciful love reach me? Do I live this peace, which is the natural fruit of love received and given?
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You will know the Lord. (Hosea 2:22). The final message is one of hope. Indeed, we are an unfaithful people, yet before us stands a God whose sole desire and goal is to make Himself known for who He truly is, not according to the image we have “made” of Him. He can only be known in the intimacy of a relationship, when we lower our defenses, allow ourselves to look into each other’s eyes, and allow the One who is love to penetrate the depths of our hearts to heal, rebuild, and reunite: “Let us hasten to know the Lord; his coming is as certain as the dawn. He will come to us like the autumn rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth” (Hos 6:3)
To know “the God of Mercy” is certainly an unconventional message, but it is only God’s love that enables us to truly love and be free, accepting ourselves and others in our fragility, in a continuous dynamic of forgiveness and regeneration. Absolute forgiveness is love without limits, which is what God offers: “Return, Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity… I will heal their unfaithfulness, I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them… They will return and sit under my shade… I am like an evergreen cypress tree, thanks to me there is fruit.” (Hos. 14:2-9)
We think back to Miss Monica and, with her, each one of us: what is that situation which is a challenge at this time in our lives? We welcome the Lord there, so that He may teach us the mercy that gives new life, and thus we will experience His peace. A few weeks ago, the Pope said to the children of the lay movement Italian Catholic Action: “We all desire peace for nations wounded by conflict, but let us remember that harmony and respect begin in our daily relationships, in the gestures and words we exchange at home, in the parish, with our schoolmates, in sports. Therefore, before the holy night of Christmas, think of a person with whom you can make peace: it will be a gift more precious than those you can buy in stores, because peace is a gift that can truly only be found in the heart. Making peace is the gesture that makes us witnesses of Jesus, the Redeemer of the world.” [3]
[1] Names have been changed to protect privacy, but the story is true.
[2] Message for the 59th World Day of Peace, January 1, 2026
[3] Greeting from Pope Leo XIV to the young people of Italian Catholic Action, Friday, December 19, 2025
This month’s meditation is by Sr. Elena Morcelli, AVI.
