REBOUND

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 14^th 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, HESED  or  CHESED.  We hear it in words like Hasidic.  

The book of Hosea is a book about rebound.

MERCY  AND 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.