God's Unfailing Love
July 8, 2024 - Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Hosea 2:16, 17c-18, 21-22
The Bible begins and ends with marriage (Gen. 2:23-25; Rev. 21:9-11), and in the prophetic books, marriage is often used as a metaphor for the relationship between God and the people of Israel: “For your Maker is your husband—the Lord Almighty is His name” (Is. 54:5). In the New Testament, this metaphor refers to the relationship between Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:31-32; Rev. 19:7).
Unfortunately, like in any marriage, things do not always go well. God, through the prophet Jeremiah, declares: “But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me” (Jer. 3:20). God is so hurt by the sins of His people that He contemplates separating Himself from them for a while: “Rebuke your mother, rebuke her—for she is not My wife and I am not her husband” (Hos. 2:4). But God never contemplates divorce: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away?” (Is. 50:1). There is none. God dismissed His wife for her sins, but He loves her so much that He plans to restore that broken relationship (Hos. 2:16).
Hosea is a prophet of God's love wounded by the unfaithfulness of His people. Like Amos, he preached during the prosperous days of King Jeroboam II (786-746 BC), who reigned over the Northern Kingdom of Israel. But unlike Amos, who focused on social justice, Hosea fought against the worship of local idols. The prophet saw idolatry as adultery. By going after idols, the people betrayed their "husband," the Lord.
The life of Hosea is a parable about the Lord betrayed by His people. Upon the command of the Lord, he married a girl named Gomer. They had two sons and a daughter. But then the wife ran away from Hosea after someone she loved more than her husband and ended up in slavery. Hosea was told by God to look for her, and he brought her back home, but their relationship was not renewed yet. Like the people of Israel, Gomer had to realize what a covenant between husband and wife entails, namely faithfulness to each other. But can Hosea, the faithful husband, gain the love of his wife? And can the Lord capture the hearts of His people?
"I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart" (Hos. 2:16). Hosea idealizes the period of Israel's journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. He saw it as a "honeymoon" in the relationship between the Lord and Israel. And he hoped for this honeymoon to return. "She shall respond there as in the days of her youth when she came up from the land of Egypt" (Hos. 2:16). But did Gomer respond to Hosea's faithful love? We do not know. What we do know, however, is that unfortunately, only a tiny remnant responded to God calling His people to return to Him, fall in love with Him, and remain faithful.
The cry of the Lord longing to be loved by His people reminds me of the words of Jesus spoken to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a 17th-century French Roman Catholic Visitation nun and mystic:
"Behold, this Heart, that so deeply loves mankind, that it spared no means of proof—wearing itself out until it was utterly spent! This meets with scant appreciation from most of them; all I get back is ingratitude—witness their irreverence, their sacrileges, their coldness, and contempt for me in this Sacrament of Love."
Will the Lord gain our love in return for His love?