Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 24, 2019
Today, in Mercy, our readings are all about food in the many forms and senses of that word.
The Israelites have been in the desert for a while. The burden of travel is beginning to weigh upon them. Food is short, tempers even shorter. Things seem so bad that, in a fit of stupendous forgetfulness, they tell Moses they were better off as slaves in Egypt.
Moses asks God to intervene, which God does with the gifts of manna and quail.
The folks in today’s reading remind me a lot of people I know — even myself. Haven’t we all heard, and maybe uttered, the complaint that things were so much better in “the old days”. Haven’t we critiqued a challenging situation with the unhelpful assessment, “Well, it’s not like it used to be!”
But the God of Exodus is so patient, as is Moses. God doesn’t become angry with the complainers. Instead God promises to take care of them and to stay with them forever on their journey. God makes good on this word by initiating the naturally occurring phenomena of morning manna and migrating quail so that the community is fed.
Some areas to focus on as we pray with this passage:
God does not deliver the Israelites immediately to their destination. Life is a journey, not an arrival.
God intervenes to meet their needs, but through ordinary occurrences rather than miracles. God uses manna and quail, surprising but nonetheless naturally occurring events in the Sinai desert.
God expects the Israelites to interact with grace, to recognize that God is about the continuing work of Creation and Covenant, even within the natural circumstances of our lives.
For us, the profound reminder that God accompanies us in drought and abundance, in joy and sorrow, in wilderness and stability; that God is listening under our hungers; that God is sustaining us in graces we may be slow to recognize.
Music: Panis Angelicus – Luciano Pavarotti
Panis angelicus
fit panis hominum;
Dat panis caelicus
figuris terminum:
O res mirabilis!
manducat Dominum
Pauper, servus, et humilis.
Te trina Deitas
unaque poscimus:
Sic nos tu visita,
sicut te colimus;
Per tuas semitas
duc nos quo tendimus,
Ad lucem quam inhabitas.
Amen.
Bread of Angels,
made the bread of men;
The Bread of heaven
puts an end to all symbols:
A thing wonderful!
The Lord becomes our food:
poor, a servant, and humble.
We beseech Thee,
Godhead One in Three
That Thou wilt visit us,
as we worship Thee,
lead us through Thy ways,
We who wish to reach the light
in which Thou dwellest.
Amen.
