Monday, July 29, 2019

Looking for the Tent of Meeting

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 17th week in Ordinary time

July 30, 2019: Exodus 33:7-11, 34: 5-9,28; Matthew 13: 36-43

Let your light Shine - is a constant invitation from the Saviour to all those who profess their faith in him. What do we do for the light to shine - of course we have to do things right, just and loving! But more fundamental than that - before we DO anything, we need to BE. Like Moses, we need to be in the presence of the Lord, in the Tent of Meeting - then our light will shine, as the face of Moses shone so much that the people of Israel were afraid of gazing at it (2 Cor 3:7). 

The Gospel today, gives us the same invitation, in and through the explanation of the parable of the weeds explained to us by Jesus. "The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" says the Gospel, underlining the circumstances in which we will shine to the world! Infact, many of us are in search of this Tent of Meeting (Exo 33:7)... in places of pilgrimage, in events of miraculous nature, in our practices of strenuous personal piety and so on! 

Understanding all these appreciable efforts, the readings today give us two possibilities of spotting this tent: 

One, the Inner Sanctuary of personal integrity, that Jesus speaks of in the parable of the weeds. The Lord has blessed us with goodness within us, it depends on our use of personal freedom to retain that goodness or contaminate it with baser tendencies. 

The second is the Mobile tents of the personal around us, where God encounters us at every moment of our day. Living as Moses did for the others and in total dedication to their well being, is an unfailing means to encounter the Lord. 

Let our hearts be tuned to the Tent of Meeting that we may encounter the Lord today!