Lord, Jesus, aren’t the words I want to hear when someone stands at my grave to be: “generous, served, gave without counting the cost, fought for what was right, even when it meant wounds and the hurt”?
Painting on top by Pieter Bruegel
the Elder, 1565. It can be seen in
the Courtauld Gallery in London.
Then there is another version,
which is attributed to his son,
Pieter Bruegel the Younger.
It is dated to around 1600
and it can be seen in the
Philadelphia Museum of Art.
FACE TO FACE WITH GOD
INTRODUCTION
The title of my
homily for this 17th Tuesday in OT is, “Face To Face With God.”
Today’s First
Reading from Exodus, especially the words about the tent and the cloud and
Moses seeing God face to face, is very ancient - around the 9th
century BC. [Cf. Exodus 33: 7-11, 34:5b-9, 28.]
Because of their
sins and their sinfulness, Moses set up his tent outside the camp. The people’s
tents were set up inside the camp.
The cloud would
settle over Moses’ tent and the people like little children got the message
from Moses - through his words and body language - that God was not happy with
them because of their sins.
Moses - like God - distanced himself from the people - and only met with God
outside the village. They were not worthy of God. They would stand outside
their tents and worship God from a distance - unlike Moses - who is described
as seeing and being with God face to face.
In yesterday’s first reading from Exodus, we heard how they sculpted a
golden calf and said this was their god - from their golden rings and
things. We can do things like that.
I was thinking
that the basic instincts going on here are wanting to be close to God - good -
and to get God under our control - according to our image and likenesses - not
good.
IN THIS HOMILY
In this homily we
could look at our relationship with God.
When we were little kids, what was our relationship with God like? Does every parent - like Moses - use God to
get their kids to be good? Where do people pick up that when things go wrong,
they ask, “What did we do wrong?”
Answer: sometimes
yes - sometimes no. Obviously there are things we can do to stop global warming.
In the meahwhile we can bring an umbrella when it really looks rainly and wear
a cool t-shirt when it’s going to be hot.
When did people
pick up that God gets angry with folks? Where do people think that when
anything goes wrong, it’s God punishing people?
In the New
Testament we’re going to hear Jesus countering this thinking in various stories
- especially ‘The Story of Man born Blind” - Chapter 9 of John.
FACE TO FACE
I think the
solution is to ask the Lord to have an intimate, face to face, relationship
with him - and to let go and let God be God - however the mystery of God works.
Yet to still
strive to be with God….
Yes, to be like
little children, who see their father in the corner reading the paper and they
go over - climb up on his lap and pull down the paper wall - or to get up into
their father’s face and climb closer - face to face - nose to nose - and to look into God’s face and say hello.
In fact, if we
have a relationship with a distant God -
we might tend to be way off when it comes to knowing God.
LIFETIME EXPERIENCE
God is a lifetime
experience.
The Jewish
Scriptures - give us many people’s perceptions of God. That’s why we read them.
We read them - we hear them - and we act and react to them.
The Jewish
Scriptures - the New Testament - give us the gift of Jesus - and how he
struggles to tell us who he his - and who his Father is - and what they are
like - and to pray to and for their Spirit - as we slowly move deeper and
deeper into the mind of God.
It’s a lifetime
experience like any close - face to face relationship - we have with each other
- not from a distance - not outside our tent - but inside the tent called our
family and the bigger tent called our places of worship - and hopefully
somewhat before we die - but definitely after we die - the cloud with disperse
and we will be with God - in a face to face eternal experience - or however
eternity works.
Monday, July 27, 2015
July 27, 2015
KINGDOM PRACTICES
Hold the door open. Let another in ahead of us.
Enjoy the food and thank the cook or the waitress.
Say, “Hi” to those in the elevator with us.
Give a smile to the driver in the car next to us.
Pick up garbage, wrappers, etc. on the sidewalk.
If there are crayons, and there is paper, draw.
Say to the dog walker, “Nice dog. What kind?”
Give the street musician at least a quarter!
Take the grandkids out for ice cream!
Turn the other cheek. Answer anger with peace.
Go the extra mile - especially for the stuck.
Forgive 70 times 7 times and then some more.
See the good the others do; Miss the mistakes.
Wave! Smile! Greet! Acknowledge others.
Give glasses of cold water.
Say, “Beautiful baby. Wow. Lucky mom and dad.”
“Want a cookie?” "Want a cup of tea?" Break and share your bread.
Give positive comments about great T-shirts.
Check your baggage - free up the overheads.
Tell others to tell that story about their kid.
If a kid loves chess - ask her to teach you the game.
Pray with others - especially when they are facing a problem.
Call you old coach when you see his name in the paper - especially after
a tough loss.
Go to high school musicals and plays - even when your kids are long
finished college. Never stop being like a little child.
The title of my homily for this 17th Monday in
Ordinary Time is, “Prone To Evil? How
Prone?”
I take that title and that thought from what Aaron, the
brother of Moses, says to him in today’s first reading from Exodus 32: 15-24,
30-34, when Moses comes down from the mountain and all the people are singing,
dancing, chanting and worshipping the Golden Calf.
Moses was just up the mountain in ecstasy, in awe, in
worship, with God, Yahweh, the presence that brought them out of Egypt and
slavery.
How soon they fall into sin! How soon they drop the invisible God - for a
visible God - the Golden Calf.
Aaron says to Moses, “Don’t be angry. You know well
enough how prone the people are to evil.”
QUESTIONS THAT
COMMENT TRIGGERS?
That comment in Exodus 33:22 triggered for me the following questions:
·“How prone am I to evil?”
·“Are we all different in degree when it comes to
sinful tendencies?”
·“If different, what sins am I prone to?”
·“Have I changed through the years?”
·“What are my temptations?”
PRONE
Other translations of Exodus 32:22 use the word “bent”.
The New English Bible
has Aaron say, “You know they are troubled.”
The King James Version
says that the people “are set on mischief.”
The Good News Version
goes this way, “you know how determined these people are to do evil.”
KEY THEME
For a homily thought today, please answer this question
for yourselves.
Why do we sin? Why do our kids mess up? Why the horror
stories in life?
Why do we hurt ourselves or others?
Another series of questions:
·Are we predetermined?
·Are we born bent out of shape?
·Is it our parents or TV or friends that give us
good or bad example?
I’m serious. We need to reflect deep on this.
Genesis begins by saying, “All is Good. All God makes is
Good.”
Then we have the Adam and Eve and bad fruit story - and
we are the ones who choose evil.
Next Cain kills his brother Abel. In that Hebrew Story in Genesis 4 - we hear
about the “Yetzer hara”- a Hebrew term for the evil that lurks at our door and
we are the ones who invite evil into our house or tent.
All through the Old Testament we have this question - of
why Evil.
In the New Testament Paul’s answer in Romans is, “I don’t
know.” I tell myself, today I’m going to do this and I go out and do the
opposite. Why? Why?
Why do find ourselves saying on a regular basis after we
do a nasty, “Next time less wine, next time less whining, next time less
eating, next time less gossip and we do the opposite?”
CONCLUSION
I don’t have a conclusion.
This is the lifetime struggle. Paul will say in Romans - as Augustine read in
the garden - that the only person we can turn to is Jesus Christ. [Cf. Book 8
of the Confessions and Romans 13:11-14]
In the meanwhile, be like Moses and find some alone space
and listen to the 10 Commandments.
In the meanwhile, follow Jesus, the New Moses, and hear him tell us what he
learned on the mountain: the Sermon on the Mount.
Or scream out to the Lord, “Help! Bend me back into shape.
Prone me towards you.”
