WORD 2day: Thursday, 15th week in Ordinary time
July 15, 2021: Exodus 3: 13-20; Matthew 11: 28-30
The Word presents the name of God to us today. Reflecting on the name of God, every time I narrate this experience of mine a few years ago when I was doing my licentiate in Rome. I was in a parish in the north of Italy, to substitute a parish priest during his days of Spiritual Retreat. There were a few elderly ladies who were regular for the daily Eucharist and after the celebration every day. They would spend some time every day after Mass talking to me. They loved to hear things about the Bible and one day the most vociferous of them asked - "Is there a name for our God!" Before I could say, "Yes, it is Jesus!", she intervened and said, "I mean, God the Father! Does God have a name?" And I quoted to her today's reading and said, "Yes, our God is I AM. Or when we say it...Our God is WHO IS". She was thrilled to know the name of God, and was going around telling everyone the discovery that she has made. When the Parish priest returned a week later, one of the first things she told him was, "Fr. you know, I know the name of our God. Our God is, WHO IS, or I AM, or YAHWEH"...And the Parish Priest was a bit upset; he turned to me and said - "No Father... That is the God of the Hebrews!"
YAHWEH, One who IS… It is not just a name - it was an experience. It has to be our experience today: the God who IS, who is with us, now, always, all the time. Especially in tough times as we are living today, we need to yearn for and draw strength from this experience of God with us, the God who IS with us. Yahweh, O God who IS with us, help us feel your presence and share the same with those who are in need of it.
I did not want to pick a theological argument with the Parish priest...but thought to myself - "Yes...that is the God of the Hebrews, and therefore the God of Jesus too...the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as St. Paul would say (2 Cor 1:3; Eph 1:3; Col 1:3)."