16th Week, Thursday, July 27
Exodus 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20 / Matthew 13:10-17
God manifests his presence; All the People trembled.
Ancient Israelites cause modern historians to scratch their greying heads. The learned historians look at one another and say, "How could a mob of complaining ex-slaves, with no education and no organization, change the course of human history?" The only answer that makes any sense is the one the ex-slaves themselves gave. At the foot of a mountain in the Sinai desert, they encountered the God who created the universe. That remarkable encounter transformed them in the most spectacular way imaginable. They could never again be the same. They became God's instrument on earth.
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What single event in our lives had the greatest impact on shaping us? "Time doesn't enfold him; space can't hold him. Intelligence can't grasp him. Imagination can't conceive him. Absolutely nothing is like him." Abdallah Ibn "Tumart
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Much has been said about the attitude of some Catholics who come for Mass on Sundays. Besides being late, some come in all sorts of dressing that would make others blush and some would busy themselves with other activities other than pray. With such attitudes, we wonder what is the understanding of the Eucharist and what is the House of God being turned into.
In the 1st reading, God told Moses - I am coming to you in a dense cloud so that the people may hear when I speak to you and may trust you always. God also told Moses - Go to the people and tell them to prepare themselves today and tomorrow. Let them wash their clothing and hold themselves in readiness for the third day, because on the third day the Lord will descend on the mountain of Sinai in the sight of all the people.
When the day came, there were peals of thunder on the mountain and lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp all the peoples trembled. The people had to be prepared to meet the Lord as He comes to them. And the Lord made His presence felt with enough of signs to make the people tremble.
How we wish that such signs would be present at every Eucharist. Then all those inappropriate attitudes would certainly disappear. But if we prepare ourselves well enough, we will see the signs of God's presence. We wash not just our clothes but we cleanse our hearts so that God will come and dwell in our hearts and make His dwelling in our hearts.
As Jesus said - Happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear. I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it. Yes, we will see, and we will hear, as long as our hearts are prepared.
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Contrary to popular belief, which is based on a rather late “tradition” in the West only, Mary Magdalene is not the sinful woman described in Luke 7. We know that she was from Magdala and had been cured by the Lord. She became an eager and loving witness to the Lord’s resurrection.
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"Anyone who has, will be given more, and he will have more than enough, but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away" (verse 12). This sounds a bit harsh. But it is just an ordinary law of life. This is true for money and wealth. Money goes where money is. Those who are careful in handling money, make much more. This is true Of scholarship and knowledge. Who studies hard, his whole life will remain intellectually fresh and well informed. Who has learned a language and never reads or practises it, will soon have lost all he once knew. It is the same with moral goodness. Every temptation overcome adds new strength to overcome the next. Every good habit formed will become part of our character, second nature. Indiscipline becomes unbearable. We say they have a snowballing effect. What starts small, will as it goes on, become bigger and bigger.
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Prayer: Lord our God, Mary Magdalene sought your Son with the impetuosity of a person who loved him deeply and who was afraid to have lost him. When she had recognized him, he made her a witness to his resurrection. Lord God, help us discover the presence of your Son in the people around us and may they recognize that Jesus Christ lives in us now and for ever. Amen
