The prophecy of Hosea has some of the most tender and moving descriptions of the Lord's love for His people. Their tone is so different from other parts of the Old Testament which can sometimes give an impression of an angry, vengeful God. It was Hosea's own personal and painful experience that led him to appreciate God's love in terms of faithful wedded love (ch.1-3). In today's reading (ch.11), he expresses God's care and concern as being like that of a devoted father who never gives up on a wayward son. Even though His chosen people desert Him, turn their backs on Him, His love for them is forever and He wants to welcome them back. He will correct them and restore them, they may feel this as a punishment, but they will also recognise the unswerving tender love of a forgiving husband or father.

A prophet's gift is the ability to see things that ordinary people don't see, to see through things with a divine insight. A prophet's message is not so much an 'information package' (as we might say today) but an invitation to share God's vision and come closer to Him. All of us Christians share in Christ's role as prophet, and as priest and king. Let us then more consciously ask for the Holy Spirit's gift of being able to understand our own human experiences, the happenings and situations of daily life. Let us pray for the divine gift of being able to see through what happens, and so to find God in our daily encounters and experiences, to find God in all things.