Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The LORD also told him, "I am coming to you in a dense cloud, so that when the people hear me speaking with you, they may always have faith in you also." When Moses, then, had reported to the LORD the response of the people, the LORD added, "Go to the people and have them sanctify themselves today and tomorrow. Make them wash their garments and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people. Exodus 19:9-11
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Matthew 13:12
Piety
Lord, help us see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly and follow thee more nearly every day. Help us to hear your message through the thunder surrounding us. Help us to see you in our sisters and brothers wandering in a dense fog. Help us to follow you even if we do not fully comprehend what your message and mission is for us. Amen.
Study
Sometimes the words “understanding” and “God” just don’t seem like they should appear in the same sentence. How do we understand when tragedy or illness afflicts the young and innocent? In our “quid-pro-quo” world, we like to think in Newtonian terms where every action causes an equal and opposite reaction. However, God’s love doesn’t follow any law of thermodynamics or macro-economic supply and demand. Instead, it is freely given in any condition no matter what we do.
Today’s quizzical response from Jesus (as well as Moses’ encounter with a thunderstorm and cloud of dust on the top of a mountain) can have all of us scratching our collective heads. This reading is not an economic commentary no matter how much we might like to fund a pot of gold at the end of the Book of Revelation. Today’s readings instead are a glimpse into the future of understanding and knowledge. God gives further understanding to the persons who accept the revealed mystery; from the person who does not accept it, God will take away that knowledge.
This might help us to understand the banishment handed down in the Garden of Eden and the outcome of the lives of the first apostles. However, what does it say about our condition? Are we the ones who understand? Or are we the ones who don’t quite “get it?” Was Isaiah talking about us when he proclaimed: Go and say to this people: Listen carefully, but you shall not understand! Look intently, but you shall know nothing! You are to make the heart of this people sluggish, to dull their ears and close their eyes; Else their eyes will see, their ears hear, their heart understand, and they will turn and be healed. Isaiah 6:9-10
We won’t know even though we want to know.
Action
Our challenge is to accept the mysteries that the Lord has been revealing throughout time and now reveals to us. The sad but true reality is that the Lord expects us to remain impenitent. Is our stubbornness caused, by the prophet's warning just so we can fulfill Isaiah? Moses had to endure the ignorance of his people. Jesus did the same. Why should we be any different?
Which camp will we find ourselves? The camp of God-knowledge or the camp of self-centeredness?
