Word to the Wise
Thursday, July 9, 2020 - Thursday in the 14th Week in Ordinary Time
[Hos 11:1-4, 8e-9 and Matt 10:7-15]The more I called them, the father they went from me, sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; yet, thought I stopped to feel my child, they did not know that I was their healer! [Hosea]
JULY 9 ST. JOHN OF COLOGNE OP and Companions, Martyrs, and ST. FRANCIS DE CAPILLAS and Companions, Martyrs
In this very moving passage, Hosea speaks with the voice of God the loving Father/Mother who is saddened and frustrated by the rebellious and unfaithful conduct of his/her child!! God can act through human love!! I have heard similar complaints from parents and grandparents over and over again in my years of pastoral ministry. The challenge for the parent is to see their role much like the father in the parable of the prodigal son. Both sons show themselves to be difficult each in his own way. The father does not give up on either one of them but "goes out" to meet them and invite them in!
Perhaps the most poignant modern form of this love is the parent who must cope with an addicted offspring! Another form that I hear more often is the son or daughter who has abandoned their religious faith to "burn incense to Baal." I occasionally meet parents or grandparents who actually disown their children or grandchildren when the latter go astray. I wish they could read God's words in Hosea today. God expresses the same frustration and pain: "My heart is overwhelmed, my pitry is stirred. I will not give vent to my blazing anger...." God will pick us up and hold us to his face if we will let it happen! AMEN