Hosea — Chapter 6

Venite et revertamur ad Dominum

'Come and let us return to the Lord'—à Lapide reads this as a penitential canticle placed in the mouth of the repentant remnant, anticipating the Church's liturgy of conversion. The movement from 'he hath struck' to 'he will heal' models the theology of salutary suffering found in the Desert Fathers and developed by St. John of the Cross.

Vivificabit nos post duos dies

'He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up.' À Lapide gives four interpretations: (1) literal—restoration after Assyrian captivity; (2) allegorical—Christ's resurrection on the third day; (3) moral—the soul's resurrection from mortal sin; (4) anagogical—the general resurrection. He quotes St. Paul's 'according to the scriptures' (1 Cor 15:4) as direct apostolic confirmation of the christological sense.

Misericordiam volui et non sacrificium

'I desired mercy and not sacrifice.' À Lapide, following Christ's own citation of this verse (Matt. 9:13; 12:7), explains that external sacrifice without interior dispositions is empty. The tension between cult and ethics is resolved not by abolishing sacrifice but by insisting on the soul's union of love. He cites Hugh of St. Victor on the relationship between the sacraments and charity.