We Remember
Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
Through the prophet Hosea God helps the people recall all that God had done for them. There never was a time when he was not there with his love to care for them. But they seem to have been oblivious to much of that. Like a self-engrossed teenager who seems unaware of all his parents do for him, Israel was unaware of God’s goodness to them. They often ignored God and went about doing their own things that were contrary to his commandments.
“When Israel was a child I loved him,” reminisced God through Hosea. “Out of Egypt I called my son. 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, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer.”
Do we keep aware of all that God does for us? Do we realize the depth of his love, the amount of time and attention he devotes to us? Not that he regrets any of it, not that he will ever withdraw his love and care out of spite, but that we far too often seem ignorant of his goodness; or maybe it is that we take it for granted. God loves us, cares for us without letup, he tries to make us as happy as anyone can be in this world. But we make it hard for him, don’t we?
When we engage in what we all do at times — daydream — why not use some of that daydreaming to think about God’s goodness to us? “They did not know that I was their healer?” he told the Jews. Do we know he is ours? Are we really aware of him? I hope so. Then let us thank him not only with our words, but in the way we live.
