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 protruding from 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 holy man Michelangelo shapes horns coming out of Moses’ head.
Moses is radiant, of
course, from having seen God face-to-face.
God directly imparts His wisdom and love so that Moses cannot help but
be changed. He has the flush look of an
Olympic athlete who has just won a gold medal.
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 hope to have the
Beatific Vision in eternal life. We are
wise not to speculate much on what this will be like. However, the Book of Revelation tells us that
the just will see God’s face. Since it
is experienced out of time, the site cannot grow boring. We can rest assured that it will make us
happy.
