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A parts-informed reflection on Hosea 2:16, "I will allure her."
Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Presenter: Dr. Gerry Crete, co-founder of Souls & Hearts
Listeners can discover more content from Dr. Gerry Crete through his private counseling practice, Transfiguration Counseling in Atlanta, GA; his book Litanies of the Heart: Relieving Post-Traumatic Stress and Calming Anxiety Through Healing Our Parts; his prayers Litany of the Closed Heart, Litany of the Fearful Heart, and Litany of the Wounded Heart; and his Internal Family Systems-informed movie and TV show reviews.
Questions or comments? Email scripturepodcast@soulsandhearts.com
Share your thoughts via this episode's YouTube comments at youtube.com/@ScriptureForYourInnerOutcasts
Creators and Guests
What is Scripture for Your Inner Outcasts?
In the Gospels, Jesus reaches out to the outcasts, the most marginalized and rejected members of His society. In this very brief podcast, we take His approach inside – to reach out to your inner outcasts, the parts of you who are walking in darkness and gloom. Listen in and invite the Good News in the daily Mass readings to shine on your inner lost sheep, your inner prodigals, your inner lepers, your lame, deaf, and blind parts, your inner tax collectors, and your inner prostitutes – all those parts of you deemed unworthy and unacceptable by your protector parts.
Why? So that you can integrate inside, heal, and grow to flourish in accepting being loved, loving yourself in an ordered way, and then being able to love God wholeheartedly, with all your parts, and your neighbor as yourself. All informed by Internal Family Systems and other parts work approaches, and all firmly grounded in a Catholic understanding of the human person. Join us in seeing Scripture through a new lens, coming alive for those parts of you that may have experienced spiritual neglect and need healing.
This podcast is produced by Souls & Hearts, an organization dedicated to human formation from a Catholic lens. Learn more at soulsandhearts.com.
Transcript
Dr. Gerry: "I will allure her. I will pursue her. I will woo her."
Elizabeth: You are listening to Scripture for Your Inner Outcasts. It's July 6th, 2026, Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time. Today we are joined by Dr. Gerry Crete, one of the co-founders of Souls and Hearts, the author of the book Litanies of the Heart, and a counselor with his own private practice, Transfiguration Counseling, based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Gerry: Hey there. Good to be with you today as I explore this passage in Hosea. It's really interesting because the book of Hosea is just filled with the pain of a broken covenant. Israel has gone after Baal, this false god, right, promising life but delivering emptiness. And what's interesting here is that God's response to Israel, his beloved, who is lost, right, is not rejection. And so as I speak to you, whatever exiles are listening, if you are far from God or feel far from your own innermost self, maybe because of unhelpful, you know, bad choices, even even sin, right? No matter what you're carrying, God is not responding with cold withdrawal like a wounded spouse who's angry or whatnot. He is not slamming the door. In fact, to you exile, he is saying this, "I will allure her." I will pursue her. I will woo her, right, into the desert. The desert, in my mind, psychologically and spiritually. It's like that inner place deep within the heart that's deep, maybe even, you know, understood as unconscious. It's a deep place with it, but it's a place where we can be stripped right where we are without noise and distractions. So for you exiles, meeting God in the desert may be a terrifying prospect. So let's just recognize that because God is actually saying, yeah, but that is exactly where I'm taking you. But it is not to punish you. It's not to abandon you. It's to speak to your heart, to your heart, to the deepest, most tender, most wounded, most alive place within you. Wow. And he says, "She shall call me my husband and never again my baal." He's saying to you, exile, you are my precious. You will call me husband. In other words, he's inviting you into a restored, loving relationship. This is powerful. This is real healing. And it is possible, but it involves kind of like going to this desert.
Elizabeth: Listeners can find more content from Dr. Gerry Crete, including a link to his book, The Litanies of the Heart, in the description of today's show. Thanks for joining us, and we hope to see you again tomorrow.
Dr. Gerry: So we pray. Mary, our Mother, Untier of Knots, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. And Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.