Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 31, 2023
Today’s Readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/073123.cfm
The Adoration of the Golden Calf – Nicholas Poussin
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Aaron, brother of Moses, gets an “F” as a substitute teacher. While Moses is on the mountain negotiating with God for Israel’s future, Aaron caves to the people’s demands and assists them in creating an idol – the infamous “golden calf”.
As Walter Brueggemann says, “All it takes is a little gold to make a god”:
All you need in order to make a god is a measure of the substance that is most valuable in the community, in this case gold…and a mold that can shape the gold. The mold readily available to Aaron is a calf, well, better a “bull” – a symbol and embodiment of virility and fertility, the strength, power, and capacity to generate new life! All you need to make a god is a little gold and a pattern of vitality and fertility that bespeaks self-sufficiency,
Walter Brueggemann – from a Sunday sermon delivered in 2020
Moses was on the mountain for forty days. In his absence, and with God’s silence, the people became frightened. They felt powerless. In that powerlessness, they had a choice: to believe that God would be true to God’s word, or to construct an alternate god of their own design, one that made them feel powerful again. They made the wrong choice.
Praying with this passage today, we might ask ourselves what we do when circumstances render us powerless. What do we do when God seems silent and the supports we have trusted disappear or fail? What do we do when there seems to be no answer to our prayers?
And what is the substance, as Bruegemann notes, most valued in my various communities – the substance most likely to be turned to an idol: reputation, status, resources, influence, political power, physical strength or appearance?
Do we make the mistake of thinking things like this: My power rests in my money, or my looks, or my family name, or my business success, or my intelligence, or my intimidating reputation?
When it comes to the fundamental needs of our lives, none of these things can empower us. Every one of them can fail or disappear. Our only true power lies in God’s unfailing love for us and will for our good. That power is always with us but can be accessed only through faith.
Our Gospel tells us that all one needs is a little faith to ground oneself in the power of God’s love and fidelity..
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
Matthew 13:31-32
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.”
I saw a great graphic on Facebook the other day. It pictured an open hand reaching out with a small speck on the index finger. The caption read:
I have a mustard seed,
and I’m not afraid to use it.
In the absence of a malleable, obeisant god, Israel mistakes their wealth for their god. They mold it into a figure that appears to restore their control over their lives. But they end up with only a clump of unresponsive metal.
God is not a divine butler waiting at the doorway for our next command. The ever-presnt Holy One is sometimes thickly veiled within the circumstances of our lives. It takes faith to stay in relationship with our often silent, but nonetheless abiding God.
Our Gospel tells us that if we have even the smallest seed of that faith, it will root in us and sustain us. And even the smallest measure of “holy yeast” will ferment to the point that others will find in us the inspiration to believe.
Poetry: The Golden Calf by John Newton, (1725 – 1807) who was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Navy (after forced recruitment) and was himself enslaved for a time in West Africa. He is noted for being author of the hymns Amazing Grace and Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.
When Israel heard the fiery law,
From Sinai's top proclaimed;
Their hearts seemed full of holy awe,
Their stubborn spirits tamed.
Yet, as forgetting all they knew,
Ere forty days were past;
With blazing Sinai still in view,
A molten calf they cast.
Yea, Aaron, God's anointed priest,
Who on the mount had been
He durst prepare the idol-beast,
And lead them on to sin.
Lord, what is man! and what are we,
To recompense thee thus!
In their offence our own we see,
Their story points at us.
From Sinai we have heard thee speak,
And from mount Calv'ry too;
And yet to idols oft we seek,
While thou art in our view.
Some golden calf, or golden dream,
Some fancied creature-good,
Presumes to share the heart with him,
Who bought the whole with blood.
Lord, save us from our golden calves,
Our sin with grief we own;
We would no more be thine by halves,
But live to thee alone.
Music: Amazing Grace
Lavish Mercy 