The Greatness of our God

In today's first reading, Hosea 11: 1-4, 8e-9, the prophet reminds us that God is the one who taught us how to walk on solid ground, planted us in His love, supported us in the very arms of our God, fostering us and holding our cheeks against God's face as a parent holds an  infant next to his/her cheek. God is that tender and loving toward us, His son/daughter from infancy.  Through Hosea, God complains that, though He has stooped to feed us, we do not know that God is our healer.  "...it was I who taught...[you] to walk, who  took...[you] in my arms; I drew ...[you] with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered...[you] like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; yet, though I stooped to feed...[you,] my child, ...[you] did not know that I was...[your] healer.

God looks down from heaven and sees nations fighting against one another, people fighting within their own countries, killing the innocent, causing families to flee for safety, to leave their homes and go into exile in other lands.  God sees children and women and men cowering in closets in fear for their lives and/or throwing their hands up to their faces to protect themselves from repeated blows. God stoops down from heaven and sees women and children being sold into the sex industry, becoming slaves of cheap labor so companies can sell products at low prices and make billions of dollars in profit. God stoops down from heaven and weeps when the unborn are being slaughtered in the womb or killed as they enter this world. God stoops down from heaven weeping when the scales are set against the poor of this world.

And God says, through the prophet Hosea:  "My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred.  I will not give vent to  my blazing anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again [insert the appropriate place]; for I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you; I will not let the flames consume you."

What a gracious God! What a loving God! What a forgiving God! What a caring God, One, without us realizing it, heals our woundedness, transforms our weaknesses, and leads us to forsake our sinful ways and transform the world with love and forgiveness, persons molded by grace to become who we are in Christ Jesus: the adopted son/daughter of God bringing life and wholeness to our neighbors, turning our weapons into plowshares and doing on earth what is willed in heaven.