THE PRESENCE OF GOD

INTRODUCTION

The title and theme of my homily for this 16 Tuesday in Ordinary Time  is, “The Presence of God.”

The presence of God - SHEKINAH  is a key theme in Jewish Theology.

It basically means, “nest” - God wants to nest with us. God the Mother Bird builds a nest for us - for our home - for our security - to get us off to a great start.

God - nest - in the shape of cupped hands - presence - security - shekinah.

ALL THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES

We find the theme of God’s presence - SHEKINAH - all through the scriptures.

God creates the nest called, “The Garden,” - Paradise - for Adam and Eve and walks with them in the cool of the evening - till they mess up - and hide from the presence of God.

God asks us that question every evening - every day - “Where are you?”

We are in the book of Exodus right now - God is present to save. God is the Savior. God is the Redeemer. God is the Deliverer. God is the Warrior who will lead the Israelites through the waters - to get to the other side - and to freedom. We heard that in today’s first reading.

We’ve all stood at the edge of the ocean - or river - or bay - and we know there is another side - but we need a boat, a bridge, to get to the other shore. God parts the water for us.

We know that image at the time of death - when a loved one - is imagined over the waters of death - getting into heaven - and comes through and to the other sure and earlier loved ones before us - are waiting.

God opens golden gates, doors, penetrates walls, is the bridge to salvation.

That’s just 2 books in the Old Testament. Check the rest for more images.

The New Testament has the same image as today’s first reading - telling us Jesus is the New Moses - who will lead us through the waters - the great symbol of Baptism - and we come out of the waters as part of the New People - the New Israel.

Today’s gospel has us as brother, sister, and Mother of Jesus. With Christ we are God’s family.

We who come to Morning Mass - know that - we eat with Christ on the morning shore - spelled “shore” and “sure” - called “morning Mass”.

I love that post-Resurrection scene when the disciples realize Jesus is on the shore of Galilee where they began - and he tells them where to fish - and they catch 153 sheep - and someone yells, “It is the Lord.”

Talk about presence ….

PRESENCE

When we see ourselves as God’s family - when we eat the Eucharist with Christ and each other - we know what presence is.

We pray together here in church - we sneeze and others think and say and pray, “God bless you.”  We worry when a regular is missing.

We know the presence of each other in Chick and Ruth’s - and in the Parking Lot - and in the Mall - and in the next car.

Talk about presence ….

We know when the other calls - or comes in the house  - or is with us for a family week at Ocean City or the Outer banks.

We know each other - we are present with each other - when a family member dies and we experience friends and neighbors - stopping into Taylors, Kalas, Hardesty, Reece’s - to give us support.

Presence - talk about presence….

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily was “The Presence of God.”

I hold that we understand the presence of God better when we know the presence of others - starting as babies - starting with parents, baby sitters, grand-parents, friends, teachers, neighbors.

I connect Mass with meals and meals with Mass.

I connect Family Presence with God Presence.

I connect quiet time in church - with discovering and reflecting on God’s presence - in church.

I realize the conflicting issues in all this - I love to see people connecting with each other after Mass. I realize we don’t have a big lobby here at St. Mary’s - which was built - when the priest wasn’t present with folks after Mass.

I love to see clusters of folks talking with each other - not only in the lobby of St. John Neumann in church - but in different sections of the church.

I see the faces of folks - not too many - who give looks at talkers - after Mass - and don’t seem to see their smiles and exuberance.

They want to pray and the talkers are disturbing their prayers.

When they complain to me - I like to say, “Say a prayer of thanksgiving for their joy - their smiles - their continuing to be in communion with Christ and Christ’s brother and sister and Mother - in church today with them. Isn’t it great to have people who are present to us. Isn’t absenteeism one of the big bummers of life?