Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
By Beth
DeCristofaro
It
was Moses who erected the Dwelling. He
placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars, and set up its
columns. He spread the tent over the
Dwelling and put the covering on top of the tent, as the LORD had commanded
him. … Then the cloud covered the meeting tent, and the glory of the LORD
filled the Dwelling. (Exodus 40:18-20, 34)
And
he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and
the old.” When Jesus finished these
parables, he went away from there. (Matthew 13:51-53)
Piety
Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do
with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I
accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures – I
wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul: I offer it
to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give
myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, and with boundless
confidence, for you are my Father. (Charles de Foucauld)
Study
On parish a mission
trip my teen daughter’s team rebuilt an elderly woman’s home, repairing holes
in her floor, replacing a disabled toilet and putting on a new roof. My talents however do not lie with building
anything although I assembled a pretty impressive desk from Ikea all by
myself. That the file drawer only opens
2/3 of the way is a design element, I tell myself, so that nothing falls
out.
Moses’ determination
in building the Dwelling moves me. It’s
complicated, precise and effort-laden.
And it has to be portable! When
God signals, the Dwelling is taken down, carted to a new encampment and built
again. It is a labor of faith, hope and
indeed love. God’s presence is not
contained however. Divinity is
infinitely bigger than the Dwelling. Moses
offers space for God to abide.
The building of our
own spiritual dwelling place is not unlike Moses’ efforts. We begin with our baptismal invitation and
the gift of faith. We cannot control but
we can assent. Grace nourishes us when
the hard work of spiritual awareness, cleansing and self-denial become
difficult. The wings of the Spirit hold
us up as we say “yes” again and again to life in Christ. And our spiritual self is portable too; through
good times and bad the presence of God, in the promise of Jesus, resides in
us. If we neglect our Dwelling, we lose
our way much as the Israelites wandered as they resorted to golden idols.
Action
My daughter
experienced something much bigger than outcomes as she felt the love and
gratitude of the homeowner. The elderly
woman delighted in having young people around to share her day as much as their
repairs to her house. The Israelites saw
something much bigger than they in the cloud and fire of God. Jesus points to something much bigger, the new and the old, which is the
spiritual legacy of His ancestors in faith and His own Word now offered to
all. He retreated to something bigger,
going apart, in order to be in God’s presence so that He could proclaim these
mysteries. Are we aware and astounded
that divinity is present within if we but take the time to build a holy and
welcoming space for it? What holds us
back in welcoming God to fill our dwelling?
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