"[Moses] led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, 'I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.' When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, 'Moses! Moses!' And Moses said, 'Here I am.'
'Do not come any closer,' God said. 'Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.' Then he said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.' At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God."
- Exodus 3:1b-5
Many of us would like to see God, but the same many would not deny it's hard. Sometimes we think that God does not appear to us anymore, or that He isn't really keen to show Himself to us these days. That is not true.
"God manifests himself in different ways also in each of our lives," Pope Benedict XVI said in a recent homily. For Moses, God chose to appear in a simple burning bush. For us, it could be anything from a moving bus, to a friend speaking with us or a piece of news in the papers.
Pope Benedict continued: "To recognize his presence however we must draw near to him aware of our misery and with profound respect. In any other way we would make ourselves incapable of meeting him and of entering into communion with him. As the Apostle Paul writes (1 Cor 10:11), this event too is told about for our edification: It reminds us that God does not reveal himself to those who are pervaded by sufficiency and frivolity, but to him who is poor and humble before him."
The ability to see God when He appears to us is highly dependent on our disposition. Are we poor in Spirit, and do we see ourselves truly in need of Him in our lives? Do we really want Him to appear in our lives, to be part of it and to be the King?
No comments:
Post a Comment