Monday, July 18, 2011

7/21/2011 – Homily for Thursday of the 16th week of ordinary time - Exodus 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20b


     The people of Israel had been wandering around the desert for three months after having been liberated from their slavery in Egypt.  God saw that they needed a real sign of his presence in their lives, so he told them to sanctify themselves, to wash their clothes, to prepare for his arrival.   He came to them in dramatic fashion: in the clash of thunder & lightening, in the blasts of trumpets.  Great Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke as the Lord appeared to the people in a great fire. 
         Wouldn’t we like such a profound sign from God in our lives?  Don’t we all long for a dramatic sign of his presence?  We want the Lord to speak to us in a dramatic dream or in a loud, clear voice.  We want him to give us a sign, & we often have a very distinct vision of what we want that sign to be. Yet, so often God does not give us the sign that we want.  He often appears to us in much more subtle, much less grandiose ways.  He may speak to us in our lives through the beauty of nature, in the kind gesture of a friend, in the words of good book, in a surprise phone call from a friend, in a moment of calm & silence in our busy lives.  God may be speaking to us in a quiet breeze when we are looking for an earthquake or a mighty wind.  May we open our ears, our eyes, & our hearts to all the ways God in speaking to us in those common, ordinary moments of our daily lives. 

No comments:

Post a Comment