Monday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time

"God and the Beloved"
 
Many a Christian today is surprised to hear that God’s relationship to humanity is compared in Scripture a number of times to that of a lover and beloved. This first of a series of readings from the Book of Hosea speaks of God wooing back the bride of His youth who had been unfaithful. Our faith relation to God in most of its particulars is helpfully compared to such a relationship.
 
Our relationship has to begin with some risk and some attraction, possibly with an introduction by someone else. Our parents or other family members, for instance, may first have told us about God, the Holy Mystery. We get to know God better by reflecting on the words of Scripture, by spending time with God in quiet prayer and sharing in the sacraments with the community of faith. The relationship, like all our relationships, may have its ups and downs. It may have to be reaffirmed after we have strayed. The final state of the relationship is much like that of a couple who have firmly settled on each other by free choice and commitment and who promise to be there for each other no matter what. What we expect to find in marriage or in an intimate friendship is that the other will be there for us in every and any circumstance.
 
Over and over again in the Scriptures God lovingly and tenderly assures us of that abiding presence and strength in sorrow and joy, fervor and doubt; what often needs work is our faithfulness and responsiveness. God is always there, responsive to the least bit of new effort on our part. May we be more and more open to the working of God’s grace deep within us.
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As we celebrate Independence Day, we remember that as Christians we treasure our freedom as one of the primary blessings of God. We trust the ancient promise made to Abraham and Sarah that “all the families of the earth” would come to know God’s blessing. It is an inclusive promise for every race and land.
 
On this day we pray that we may be grounded not in our own strength but in the Lord’s, ever relying on the promise that “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength……They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
 
In these troubled times across the globe, may we also be ever vigilant to pray for the freedom of all God’s children, trusting that the Day is surely coming when the ancient promises of faith may indeed be a blessing for all the families of the earth. So help us, Living God!