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Friday, July 9, 2004

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Hosea 14:2-10
Psalm 51
Matthew 10:16-23

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get the message?

"I will love them freely." —Hosea 14:5

For five days, the Lord through His Church has been reading to us from the book of Hosea. Today we conclude these readings, and the logical concluding questions are: "Did we get the message of the prophet Hosea? And has it sunk deep in our hearts and been applied to our lives?"

The revelation the Lord gave through Hosea is that His love for us is unconditional. As the Lord told Hosea to marry and love an adulterous wife, so the Lord loves us even if we choose to be unfaithful to Him through sin (see Hos 1:2).

Have you accepted the grace to believe that God's love for you is perfect, infinite, unconditional, and unchangeable? As baptized sons and daughters of God, we should be unshakably secure in our Father's love. This should make us truly free and profoundly at peace.

If you believe in God's unconditional love for you, have you applied this to your life by accepting the grace to respond by loving Him unconditionally? Even if the Lord permitted you to suffer the tragedies of Job, would you say: "Blessed be the name of the Lord"? (Jb 1:21) Live in unconditional love.

Prayer:  Father, may the words of the prophet Hosea find a home in my heart.

Promise:  "You will be hated by all on account of Me. But whoever holds out till the end will escape death." —Mt 10:22

Praise:  Even though suffering through a near drowning of her small child, Marita's faith in God continued to inspire others in the midst of the hardship of caring for her now special-needs child, along with all her other children.

Reference:  (For a related teaching, order our tape on Divine Love on audio AV 52-3 or video V-52.)

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert A. Stricker, December 13, 2003


Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, December 18, 2003