Friday, January 17, 2013
Deuteronomy 5: Speaking with God
We have heard his voice from the midst of the fire and we have found out today that a man can still live after God has spoken with him.
Moses acts as mediator for the Chosen People because they believe that anyone who sees the face of God and hears his voice must live no more. This thinking changes when Jesus acts and moves among his people to heal their wounds and cure their anxieties. This thinking is altered with Jesus’ death and resurrection. This new idea of a God among us transforms our human fear if we only allow it. Christ becomes our new arbiter with God, interceding for us with our petitions before the Father.
Like the Hebrews, we also have the opportunity to hear the voice of God. We might see his face in those who live as Christ asks; but perhaps like the Hebrews, we are a bit afraid to approach the Holy Presence to petition favor. What we read today tells us that we need not dread God’s presence, and we need not hesitate to ask Jesus for his help . . . this is what he awaits – our realization that he loves us more than we can imagine.
Prayer is the best way to hear the voice of the Creator, Redeemer, and Consoler, and God has advice for us that is better than any offered by any human. We may not have time for formal, liturgical prayer. We may not feel comfortable in communal prayer. We may find that individual prayer lacks direction and intensity. However, whatever our condition or opinion regarding prayer, we must address all obstacles to it . . . for this is the only way to reach the serenity that God promises, the peace that Christ purchases, and the love that the Holy Spirit offers.
Today’s MAGNIFICAT Meditation is taken from words of Teresa of Ávila regarding prayer. The good that one who practices prayer possesses . . . is that in spite of any wrong they who practice prayer do, they must not abandon prayer since it is the means by which they remedy the situation; and to remedy it without prayer would be much more difficult.
This does not mean to say that those who pray each day have a magical entrée to God’s presence and favor; but what it does say to us is that people who pray daily have a place to take the stresses that come to bear on them as they maneuver their daily obstacle course . . . and that place is God.
We might wish that God would show us a physical smoking presence with a loud booming voice as the Lord does with the Hebrews in today’s reading . . . but would this be more helpful than that quiet voice which speaks to us from behind to which Isaiah refers in 30:21?
We might wish we had stone tablets on which are written God’s words clearly . . . but is this more loving than God’s writing on our hearts as Jeremiah predicts in 31:33?
Teresa of Ávila tells us that she trusts in God’s mercy and love; she perseveres in prayer through the dry times in order to maintain contact with this God of compassion and peace. When we struggle with our own desire to know God intimately and to commune with him daily, we will know that we are not unique . . . for holy and saintly people have their doubts, their fears and their anxiety when they speak with God. We can do no worse and no better than this then, to listen for the voice of God . . . a God who loves us in spite of any wrong we commit.
Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 28.5(2010): 385-386. Print.
Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_of_%C3%81vila
Written on May 28, 2010 and posted today as a Favorite.
The Noontimes 