The first reading for today’s
Mass:
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I
drew them with human cords, with bands of live; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks;
Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their
healer. (Hosea 11:3-4)
This is one of the most
personable and intimate readings of the Old Testament, this story of the
relationship between God and His people. And yet, at the same time, it is the story
of the relationship between God and between you and me.
Consider, if you will, the
gentleness and love and encouragement it takes to teach a child to walk. And
what happens when the child falls? Is that perhaps the way you God wants to
treat you and you fall?
God says, “I drew them with
human cords.” Think of all the humans who have aided you in your journey to
God. More often than not, you are led be friends and mentors, guides and
witnesses, not by some kind of awesome and terrifying storm and thunder from on
high.
“I drew them with bonds of love.”
Have you found that true for you? Perhaps not. Perhaps it has taken something
more exacting than bonds of love. What has been your situation?
“I stooped to feed my child.”
Every day, in so many ways, for we need to be fed frequently. Personally, I
like to read these words as a reference to the Eucharist, when the Lord Jesus
actually stoops down to the altar to feed us.
“They did not know that I was
their healer.” How often is it, I wonder, that we haven’t been able to see the
hand of God operating in our lives when it was actually present. In how many
ways have we been healed, and still need more healing?
Think on these things if you
will. God bless you!
Please note that I will be on vacation from July 9 until July 22 or 23.
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