“A good scare is worth
more to a man than good advice.”
Edgar Watson Howe,
Country Town Sayings, 1922
Monday, July 9, 2018
REBOUND
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 14th Monday in
Ordinary Time is, “Rebound.”
“Rebound” - a neat word - as in basketball - a shot is
taken - a miss - but someone gets the rebound.
Or a team loses - but they have another game - a fresh
start - and this time they win - and the newspaper - in the headline uses the
word, “Rebound!”
HOSEA
Today - for our first reading - we begin hearing the story
of Hosea - and it’s a story of a relationship - that is a struggle - Hosea and
Gomar- husband and wife - Israel and God. [Hosea 2:
16, 17c-18, 21-22]
Gomar - a prostitute marries Hosea - and she falls back into
prostitution and still Hosea - with great emotion and pain - takes her back.He loves her.
We find in his relationship to her - the word “hesed” - a key Biblical Hebrew word -
meaning so much: loving kindness - mercy
- forgiveness - loyalty.
It’s spelled, HESEDorCHESED.We hear it in words like Hasidic.
The book of Hosea is a book about rebound.
MERCYAND
FORGIVENESS
Every relationship needs “rebound” - fresh starts -
trying again and again and again.
Jesus forgave Peter for betraying him.
Jesus preached forgiving 70 times 7 times.
Would the Judas story have had more impact - if Judas
didn’t kill himself in the horror of his betrayal of Jesus?Would the stations of the cross been
different - if Jesus could have somehow went to the Judas tree on the way to
Calvary and talk Judas out of killing himself?
YESTERDAY’S CAPITAL
Speaking of Hosea, in yesterday’s Capital, our town of Annapolis’ newspaper had an incident in the
Dear Abby column about someone described as “Dumbstruck in Chicago.”
Dear Abby - that first Abby died years ago…. This column
is being continued by her daughter. I
like to say I was at a dinner in Chicago - where I met that first Dear Abby. As
I was leaving I shook her hand “Good-Bye”.I always regret that I didn’t give her a quick kiss on her cheek - but
wow did she have a lot of powder make up on.
Yesterday’s Dear Abby letter describes a situation that goes as follows: “After
reading the letter from ‘Dumbstruck in Chicago,’ who’s dating a recently
divorced man who was unfaithful to his ex-wife through multiple affairs and
one-night stands with prostitutes, I cannot stay silent. That man screams of
being a sex addict. He needs the help of a certified sex addiction therapist
before he wrecks another woman’s life.”
It continues, “Dumbstruck should RUN - not walk - to the nearest S-Anon
meeting.It’s a 12-step program for
people who have been affected by another person’s sexual behavior. These
behaviors included infidelity by emotional or physical affairs, one-night
stands with prostitutes, hanging out in strip clubs and porn addiction.”
Continuing, “S-anon saved my sanity and gave me the
courage to offer my husband of 30 years a choice - recovery or divorce? Because he knew I was serious, he reluctantly
went into Sexaholics Anonymous as well as therapy with a certified sex
addiction therapist and has been sexually sober for five years.Our marriage is better today than I ever
dreamed it would be.
“Sex addiction is a disease and needs to be recognized as
the cause of ruining many marriages and tearing families apart. Please, Abby,
suggest SA and S-Anon when you reply to people who write you about these
issues.”Signed: “Anonymous in Kentucky.”
CONCLUSION:
Now that’s a story about Rebound. In case you might think
this should not be mentioned in church - ha em, read the book of Hosea. It’s one of the books of our
Bible.
July 9, 2018
FOREVER AND EVER, AMEN!
The cave woman went out to get
some water - but stopped to spot
and watch a red cardinal pausing
to view a valley from a branch.
A 16th century cardinal paused
to watch the smoke from a candle
going out and rising towards the
ceiling, as he said, “Oh ... life ….”
A grandfather with red suspenders taking 3 grand-kids for ice cream and getting one for himself as well, thinking, “Diabetes! Why not?"
