All this week, we have been hearing from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians in our first readings. Today’s passage from that letter reminded me of the Gospel from yesterday’s daily Mass, when Jesus announced to the people that he did not come to abolish God’s law, but rather to fulfill the law. Today, Paul speaks about God’s law and covenant that Moses gave the people at Mt Sinai. It may see strange to us that Paul states that “to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.” The people of Paul’s day were stuck in the old covenant that God forged with Moses. They did not want to recognize the new covenant that we have in Jesus. Paul goes on to say that trying to obey God’s law will not have meaning unless we are enlivened by the Holy Spirit. The veil that Paul speaks of is probably a reference to they way that when Moses read the law to the people at Mt Sinai, he had to veil his face because the people could not stand its brightness. But now, Paul says, the veil is not over the face of Moses, but over the minds of the hearers who cannot see that the message of Moses has been overtaken by the Good News of Christ.
As I hear this reading today, I think of the veils that exist in our society today. Our society is fractured in many ways - very divided and very contentious. In the Church, too, we still strive for a unity and a wholeness that we do not yet have. Are we open to the Holy Spirit in our lives? Or are we have our mind fixed as to what we ourselves want?
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