Let us turn back to the God who has blessed us so greatly.
Our first reading continues the presentation of important moments in salvation history.
Last week we heard about the covenant that God made with Abraham. This Sunday we hear the story of Moses and the burning bush.
Moses has a typical reaction when he encounters the presence of God. First of all, he is attracted to the burning bush. When we experience the Holy, we want to draw near.
Yet, as soon as Moses arrives there, he realizes that the Holy also creates a sense of fear. (not terror–-It is more a sense of awe to be in the presence of God). This is what we mean when we say that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is “Fear of the Lord.”
God identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God, who has heard the cry of his people and come to their rescue, the one who promised that they would inherit the land flowing with milk and honey.
Thus Moses learns that this is not a new God whom the Israelites had never met before, but rather is the God who had already called the Patriarchs and prepared the way for his holy people.
Moses asks God what his name is so that he could tell the people when he explains what happened to him. God answers that his name is Yahweh, “I am.”
The rabbis said that the name could mean “I am who I am and its none of your business who I am.” Meaning that God was a God of Mystery, and we should accept the fact that we will never fully know or understand who God is.
Or, Yahweh could mean “I am who I am for you, who I have always been for you, and who I will always be for you.” In other words, God describes himself as being at the service of his chosen people. He demonstrates this when he listens to the groans of his people and sends Moses to lead them out of the land of their suffering.
In the second reading, St. Paul’s First Letter to the people of Corinth, he refers to the Israelites being led by Moses and how they were followed by a spiritual rock, and that rock was Jesus. And how, when they turned to it they received spiritual drink. It is the same with us, my sisters and brothers, Jesus is always there waiting for us to turn to him in our time of need!
Today’s Gospel recall’s the theme found in the reading from St. Paul that once we receive God’s grace we are responsible for what we have received. We are to boast in the hope and glory of God.
One of the Gospels injunctions is that we are to go out into the world and preach the forgiveness of sins. We are to proclaim God’s mercy to all we meet, especially those who desperately need to hear about it.
We need to ask ourselves whether we and our parish have done this. Do we spend our time and our resources to share the Good News with the unchurched? Again this is what St. Paul means when he says we are to boast in the hope and glory of God.
Lent is a time for us to honestly examine our lives and to remove anything that keeps us from loving God and neighbor. We should not squander this time, for we do not know how much time we have to turn to the Lord’s ways. He’s always there waiting for us to come to him! We do not know how much time we have. Earlier this year we saw the Haitian disaster, now we are seeing pictures of the Chilean earthquake, we pass car accidents on the highway, we hear of friends and relatives who died suddenly.
Every moment is precious, and this season of repentance is to valuable for us not to use it well!
And the parable about the fig tree reminds us that, even though we haven’t borne good fruit yet, we might to still have a chance to do so. Lent is a time to dig around our roots and fertilize them (with the word of God, prayer, penitential practices, reception of the sacraments, all of the sacraments.) We cannot let our past failures paralyze us; we must use every opportunity for growth is provided for us. It will be a terrible tragedy for those who do not take advantage the sacrament of reconciliation this Tuesday evening. When several of our local area priests will give up their evening to afford all and opportunity to take advantage of this wonderful sacrament instituted by Christ.
As we each proclaimed on Ash Wednesday, turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel…