GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 4TH JULY 2016
MONDAY OF THE 14TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
1ST READING: Hosea 2:16-18, 21-22
PSALM: Psalm 145:2-9
GOSPEL: Matthew 9:18-26
THEME: FAITHFULNESS
Occasionally, we all come across thought-provoking inscriptions, sometimes on t-shirts, billboards or other platforms. I came across one such quote which reads, “Cheating is easy…Try something more challenging…like being faithful.”
Our First Reading uses a marriage imagery to describe the relationship between God and Israel. Whereas God had established himself as a faithful husband, Israel for a greater part chose to be unfaithful in the covenantal relationship. The latter ran after the gods of fertility (Baals) in Canaan, made treaties with foreign powers like Assyria and Egypt and chose to rely on their own military strength rather than on God. With the passage of time, their commitment to God started waning.
In spite of the unfaithfulness of Israel, God still loved them. The strength of God’s faithful love is expressed in the words, “I will now allure her, and bring her into the desert, and speak tenderly to her…On that day, says the LORD, you will call me, ‘My husband,’ and no longer will you call me, ‘My Baal’…And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy” (Hos 2:14ff).
The story of Israel is the story of each one of us. On many occasions, we choose the path of unfaithfulness but God remains faithful. His steadfast love never seizes and his mercies never come to an end. The faithful love of God towards us has a twofold purpose. First it heals our hearts, broken by faithlessness. Secondly, it elicits faithfulness from us.
To be faithful means to be full of faith. Like the woman in our Gospel text who, on account of her fullness of faith in Jesus, touched his garment and got healed, fullness of faith in the Lord would bring us salvation.
Cheats are weaklings even if they have robust bodies and faithful people are strong even if they are weak in body. Let us choose faithfulness today.
Fr. Andrews Obeng, SVD
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)