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April 5, 2011
“Hosea” by Gregory Norbert
Come back to me with all your heart,
don’t let fear keep us apart.
Trees do bend, tho’ straight and tall;
so must we to others’ call.Long have I waited for your coming
home to me and living deeply our new life.The wilderness will lead you
to your heart where I will speak.
Integrity and justice
with tenderness you shall know.Long have I waited for your coming
home to me and living deeply our new life.You shall sleep secure with peace;
faithfulness will be your joy.Long have I waited for your coming
home to me and living deeply our new life.The words of the song “Hosea” have always spoken to my soul in all times both good and not so good. In 2001 I was first introduced to the Redemptorists through a mission that was given at St. John’s in Leonia, NJ. For months before the mission there was a huge poster on the front of the church lawn, that said “Come Back To Me,” Redemptorist Mission, October 28, 2001. Little did I imagine how that poster would change my life.
I attended Mass on Saturday night and heard the Redemptorist preacher invite the congregation to the mission. I had a friend who had been away from Mass for 30 years, and I invited her to attend the mission, an invitation which she accepted reluctantly. She did attend, and that “Hosea” song haunted my mind as my friend entered the confessional for the first time in so long.
“Wow! God you are here, and your voice has been heard through the words and gentle compassion of one of your gifted Redemptorists!” I thought. Five years later, the same Redemptorist returned and it was my turn to finally come home, after hiding from myself for a very long time.
If you ever have the opportunity to attend a Redemptorist Mission, please go and bring a friend, you never know who you will be helping. Whatever you are asked to do to help another human being, may God guide you and bless you to follow in His footsteps be they small little steps or bigger ones.
May God return to you through whatever means He chooses this Lent.
— Related by a grateful mission attendee and website reader