(Also…St Alphonsus Liguori, M)
God Is Where His People Are
Introduction
In the years of the exodus and the settlement in the Promised Land, the Tent is the sign of God’s presence among his people. When they march, God marches with them. When they move the Tent, God moves with them, for God is where his people are. It is a saving presence, a covenant presence, and so a presence of love. When later a Temple is built, it is powerless to contain him. Since Christ, God is with us in Christ, the new Temple. We ourselves become God’s temples as the prolongation of the body of Christ. God is where people put their trust in him, in those who suffer, especially the poor, where people gather in Christ’s name, where people eat the Lord’s body, where people love one another.
The parable about the net full of fish, good and bad, is very close to the parable explained just last Tuesday about the wheat and the weeds. God takes us as his dear sons and daughters. Whether we take him as Our Father is what separates the good (stored in the bucket) and the bad (thrown away/burnt). However, the gospel today ends with the statement that the scribe in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old. Jesus came “not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to complete them.” Therefore the disciple, when he welcomes what is new, does not reject what is old. He treasures both.
1 Reading: Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38
Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him. On the first day of the first month of the second year the Dwelling was erected. It was Moses who erected the Dwelling. He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars, and set up its columns. He spread the tent over the Dwelling and put the covering on top of the tent, as the LORD had commanded him. He took the commandments and put them in the ark; he placed poles alongside the ark and set the propitiatory upon it. He brought the ark into the Dwelling and hung the curtain veil, thus screening off the ark of the commandments, as the LORD had commanded him. Then the cloud covered the meeting tent, and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling. Moses could not enter the meeting tent, because the cloud settled down upon it and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling. Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling, the children of Israel would set out on their journey. But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward; only when it lifted did they go forward. In the daytime the cloud of the LORD was seen over the Dwelling; whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud by the whole house of Israel in all the stages of their journey.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11
R. (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God. R.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young–
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God! R.
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength. R.
I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked. R.
Alleluia: cf. Acts 16:14b
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Open our hearts, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Matthew 13:47-53
Jesus said to the disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” “Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.
Commentary
The completion of the dwelling has singular importance, for it was the locus of Yahweh’s unique presence. The ark was the throne of his presence; it was separated by a curtain from the rest of the dwelling. The cloud representing the shekinah, or, glory of the Lord, hovered over the dwelling, and only when it lifted did the Hebrews move on. Within the ark were placed the commandments of the law. When the temple was constructed, the ark was located in the Most Holy Place.
God was never missing from the life of his people. The same is true in the Christian era. Christ promises his followers that he will be with them always until the end of time. He remains with us in word and sacrament, especially in the great gift of the Eucharist. By reason of the gift of the Spirit, he remains present in all of us as well, a presence that is especially accented when we gather as an assembly of worship.
St. Teresa of Avila, who suffered for years from spiritual aridity, once asked the Lord where he was when she felt so desolate. His answer was, “Right in the center of your heart.” Let us never feel abandoned, for even in our darkest moments, Christ is with us.
Blessing
If we were only more aware of it, we should never ask, “God, where are you?”, not even in difficult days. God is where we are; he is always with us, as Emmanuel. May almighty God be with you and bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!