Word to the Wise
Thursday, July 10, 2008 - Thursday in the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time
[Hosea 11:1-4, 8E-9 and Matthew 10:7-15]When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me.
A friend of mine has a tile in her kitchen that says, "Grandchildren are the reward for not killing your own!" I think of that in reading Hosea who seems to depict God as alternately furious and loving toward his children of Israel. Almost any set of parents will say, "AMEN!" Today's passage from Hosea has God almost ready to destroy his people and yet says, "I love them too much. I can't do it. But they're going to suffer for their bad decisions!" Parents will sigh and agree! Does this make us God's "reward?" How many of us have paid "in spades" for bad decisions made in a passionate and ignorant youth? We can sometimes marvel that we're still alive to change our lives and look back with amazement and embarrassment. (That can be price enough!) But in this we learn how profound God's mercy is! We learn how much Jesus' own suffering means. It is humbling to realize that humanity will continue to alternately infuriate and love God, but that humble realization on the part of each believer can help us to understand that God enjoys grandchildren. AMEN
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