The Tent(s) of Meeting!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 1, 2023: Remembering St. Alphonsus de Ligouri 

Exodus Exodus 33:7-11,34:5-9,28; Matthew 5: 13-19

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 - ofcourse we have to do things right, just and loving! But more fundamental than that - before we do anything, we need to BE... right, just and loving!

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). Just as we have in the saints, specially like those of Alphonsus de Ligouri we celebrate today, we have people who shine, shine and make the presence of God powerfully felt amidst us. "You are the light of the world" declares 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! All these are appreciable efforts and readings today give us two possibilities of spotting this tent: 

One, the Inner Sanctuary of personal integrity, that Jesus demands in the personal integrity and relationship with God. 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. When we preserve our inner goodness, we encounter the Lord deep within us! the tent of inner sactuary.

Second, is the Mobile Tents of the Other, 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. Alphonsus founded the Redemptorist Order to preach, to call everyone to conversion, for he knew to encounter the other is to encounter God - the mobile tents of the other.

Let our hearts be tuned to the Tent or the Tents of Meeting, that we may encounter the Lord, whenever, wherever and however that the Lord wills!