Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Exodus 34:29-35; Matthew 13:44-46)

One of Michelangelo’s most famous sculptures shows Moses with horns coming out of his head!  It was not that Michelangelo thought Moses some kind of devil.  Rather he was faithfully depicting the figure described in the Latin Bible that was used at the time.  In it the Hebrew word for radiance was incorrectly translated as horn.  Hence the great sculptor and religious devotee shapes horns protruding from Moses’ head.  Moses is radiant, of course, from having spent time with God who imparts his wisdom to him in the Ten Commandments. 

The gospels speak of Jesus as having a similar radiance when he is transformed on the mountaintop.  He also has seen God face-to-face.  We learn from him even more clearly God’s will for us.  Today’s gospel expresses that will as seeking the kingdom of God.  It tells us not to allow anything or anyone to take priority to living the joy and peace of that life.