Sunday, II Lent
(Exodus 2)
Remember the movie “Titanic”? How can we forget it? It probably was the last blockbuster to dominate the Academy Awards. Once two young girls were watching it on a bleached out television screen in a store window. They just couldn’t take there eyes off it although they had probably seen the movie many times before. The burning bush in the first reading today rivets the same attention.
An angel of God appears in a burning bush. The angel, however, is not a separate being from God. Rather it is a manifestation of God. In the fire of the bush which is not consumed the angel reveals God as love. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the French priest and scientist, once wrote that when humans discover how to control the forces of love, for the second time they will have discovered fire. Here the love stands ready to unite itself to the Hebrew people in their struggle for liberation. In pictures of the Sacred Heart we find a similar non-consuming fire. Christ shows himself desiring to be one with us in our struggle against evil.
To accomplish victory we certainly need Christ at our head. The challenge, of course, is colossal. Not only are the forces of the enemy formidable – ignorance, disease, violence, and poverty – but he has also infiltrated our ranks. Pride, envy, and lust cripple our efforts. In large cities across the country there are schools that have defied “No Child Left Behind” and every other education program. The reason is not the lack of constructive ideas but the fact that home life of students is a mess. Only Christ, the Son of God who shares our human nature, can heal our infirmity to prepare us for battle. In the passage, Moses seems to have been likewise selected for his special qualities. Since he is Hebrew by birth, he knows and loves the people. Being reared by Pharaoh’s daughter, he has access to the chambers of Egyptian power. When God calls Moses by name, we get the sense that he has been hand-picked for the role of liberator.
Moses must remove his sandals in the presence of God. The instruction appears odd since Moses is walking on open ground. But the action is symbolic. The sandals carry soil from other places, and Moses should be free of all contaminants in God’s presence. The removal of sandals indicates Moses is dropping all pretensions before God. He will submit to the divine will. Of course, in Catholic churches we don’t take off our shoes before entering, but we do bless ourselves with holy water. The blessing has the same symbolic significance. We want to cleanse ourselves of all sinful tendencies as we listen to God’s instructions.
Then God reveals his plan to Moses. He has heard the Hebrews plea. He will rescue them from suffering in Egypt and deliver them to a land of plenty. As spectacular as that accomplishment will be, it will not equal Christ’s Easter victory over sin. His death will achieve for us forgiveness of sins. We can leave behind the guilt of our past to start over again. His resurrection will send us the Holy Spirit to advance in the struggle against evil. Yes, individual Christians sometimes backslide. Yet the record of Catholic schools in education and of Catholic organizations in charity is impressive. Catholic Relief Services, for example, is ranked among the largest and most efficient relief and development organizations in the world.
Yet some of us are reluctant to trust ourselves to Christ as presented in the Church. We wonder if the achievements of the Church in education, medicine, and social development are incidental to its claim as being the body of Christ. “Why does the Church exclude women from the priesthood or prohibit divorced Catholics to receive Communion?” we ask. We dither like Moses when he asks God to reveal His name. Moses is not quite sure that God is a friend. After all, the gods of other peoples are quite capricious, treating human beings with no more care than boys swatting flies. How could Moses be sure that God is not just leading him down a dark alley? He has the answer to that question: he will ask God for identification.
Astoundingly, God provides it! He tells Moses that he is, “I AM” – that is always there for His people. He is always ready to help them and even to forgive their faults if they but repent of their sins. Providing the people with His name is no small concession. It is having the cell number of the President! We might find in the name “I AM” the motive of the Church’s resistance to faddish change. As God is eternally there for His people, the Church tries to remain faithful to Christ’s teachings. His commands to treat the least of people as we would treat him as well as the proscription of divorce stand forever.
A particularly disgusting advertisement shows bacteria germs infiltrating toenails leaving them green and calcified. That’s a very graphic way to picture the evil which we face in the world. It confronts us outwardly with ignorance, disease, violence and poverty. It also leads us down the blind alley of pride, envy, and lust. To advance in the struggle against it we need Christ’s help. He is human by birth so he knows and loves us. He is also the Son of God with access to the chambers of power. We can count on him in our struggle against evil. We can always count on him.
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