For those who feel their life is missing something

Reflection on the Scripture readings at Mass for Wednesday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time     17 July 2013

Exodus 3:1-6.9-12. 

Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, (father of his wife Zipporah) the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed.
So Moses decided, "I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned."
When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!" He answered, "Here I am."
God said, "Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
I am the God of your father," he continued, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
So indeed the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them.
Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."
But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?"
He answered, "I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain."

Psalm 103 

Bless the LORD, O my soul;

and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and never forget all His benefits.

He pardons all your iniquities,

he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.

The LORD secures justice

and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel.

Matt 11:25-27. 

At that time Jesus said in reply, "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.

Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him.

 

 Commentary of the day:

"You have revealed them to the childlike"

I used often to meet people who admitted their life lacked a purpose, a meaning. Even celebrities used to confide to me at weddings that they had an emptiness that they attempted to fill with alcohol, people, things or even drugs. As much as I attempted to counsel them, I found it very challenging to convince them that the answer to their searching was communication with the Divine. The reason is, they figure themselves to be educated, intelligent beings with no desire to waste time on trivialities like “God”. God, they think, is an invention for the insecure, unintelligent, those looking for an answer to poverty and weakness. So they power on in their empty meaningless lives looking for other more acceptable answers.

But as we read in today’s message from Jesus, the answer can only be found by those who lower themselves to accepting that the universe does not revolve around them. The Universe is a complex arrangement which must have a Creator and Author who controls it. The secret to finding your meaning is to allow yourself to fall into the gravitational pull of the universe instead of thinking you can control it.

People attempt to explain the meaning of life in terms of karma, positive energy, ‘the stars’ but the only acceptable answer is God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is. Once you have the humility to be childlike and trust that there is a God who is a Father and cares about you, will you allow Him to take charge and then you will see the blessings that have been waiting to fall in your lap all along.

Now read a commentary from an ancient writer who was in touch with the Divine:

  “When more obscure mysteries are presented to your timid nature by your faith, Christian soul, take courage and say [like Mary], “How are these to come about?” (Lk 1,34), not in a controversial spirit but with the love of a disciple. Let your questioning be your prayer, your love, your piety, your humble desire; not seeking to plumb the depths of God's majesty, but looking for salvation in the healing acts of the God who saves us... No one “knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him; so also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1Cor 2,11). Hasten then to be a sharer in the Holy Spirit. He is present when he is called upon; nor could he be called upon, if he were not present. When, on being called upon, he comes, it is with the abundance of the blessings of God. He is the flowing of “the river which gives joy to God's city” (Ps 46[45],5). And if, when he comes, he finds you humble and still and respecting the words of God, he will rest upon you (Lk 1,35); and he will reveal to you what God the Father withdraws from the wise and prudent of this world; and those things will begin to dawn upon you which Wisdom (1Cor 1,24) could say to the disciples when on this earth, but which they were unable to bear, until the Spirit of truth came who was to teach them all truth (John 16,12-13)”.

 

William of Saint-Thierry (c.1085-1148), Benedictine, then a Cistercian monk

 The Mirror of faith, 6 ; PL 180, 384 ; SC 301 (trans. Breviary, Common of doctors)