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As workplace believers we often become so focused on the goal we forget to meet God at our own Mount Horeb. This was the place God met both Moses and Elijah. It was a place of renewal, a place of new beginnings, a place of personal encounter with the living God.
Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Easter
Acts 12:24-13:5a
Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6+8
J ohn 12:44-50 And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. (45) And he who sees me sees him who sent me. (46) I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. (47) If any one hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. (48) He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. (49) For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak. (50) And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has bidden me."
Meditation by Mike Cherney
I have enjoyed the change from Lent to the Easter season. The readings carry a very different tone than they did a month ago and the weather we experience seems to support this positive change to new life. It is a time for growth and branching out in new directions. This was a hard winter and it took quite a toll.
These are the last days of the academic semester. We are very busy, but we are not overwhelmed. As in the reading from Acts, we are overcome with activity, but it is positive activity. We feel a greater purpose.
My son counts the days until he can leave school (again) and join the workforce (again). This time he leaves with credentials in mathematics. He shows the excitement and fearlessness of the young. Like the missionaries in the first reading he is driven by a personal commitment to something greater. He is starting a teaching career in one of Chicago’s most troubled high schools. He has the courage and energy to tackle the world’s truly great challenges. I would have started slower, but he has the faith and the zeal required for such work.
I wonder if the parents of the men in the first reading had the same fears for their sons that I feel. As they watched their sons heading off into potentially hostile places, they saw the excitement and sense of purpose that the young men possessed. Nevertheless I still worry.
Today’s readings are stories that foreshadow triumph. The text in John that precedes today’s Gospel is one of worry and disbelief. The message of the Gospel answers this disbelief. The Responsorial Psalm is call for a sign. Success in earthly endeavors, which grow out of a heart following the right heading, may point others in the same direction.
My prayer today is for faith and praise. I pray for the desire to share praise when there is success. I pray for the desire to be proud of the effort when there is less success. I pray for the ability to give support to those who are sent forth by a greater light.
Supplementary Reading
A Place of New Beginnings
So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. ~ 1 Kings 19:8
E lijah and Moses were men of great zeal. They were passionate about their causes. Moses sought to free the Hebrews from the tyranny of slavery by killing an Egyptian with his own hand. Elijah, after calling down fire on the evil prophets of Baal, found himself spent physically and emotionally to the point he asked God to take his life.
Immediately after these two events, 500 years apart from one another, both men were led to the same Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. In Hebrew, Horeb means "desolation." This barren environment mirrored the condition of Moses and Elijah. For Moses, it was 40 years of barrenness. For Elijah, it was 40 days without food. Elijah became tired of standing alone for God.
As workplace believers we often become so focused on the goal we forget to meet God at our own Mount Horeb. This was the place God met both Moses and Elijah. It was a place of renewal, a place of new beginnings, a place of personal encounter with the living God.
Perhaps Elijah's greatest virtue was his zeal. Indeed, we shall see that twice in his communication with God, Elijah speaks of having been "very zealous" for the Lord. But zeal, unattended eventually becomes its own God; it compels us toward expectations, which are unrealistic, and outside the timing and anointing of God.
To remain balanced, zeal must be reined in and harnessed by strategic encounters with the living God. We otherwise become frustrated with people and discouraged with delays. We step outside our place of strength and spiritual protection. Many of us become so consumed with our battles that we are no longer aware of the presence of Jesus. We have been traveling in our own strength. [Francis Frangipane, Place of Immunity (Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Arrow Publications, 1994), 5.]
Pray that Jesus will teach us that intimacy with Him is the greatest measure of success. Lord, guide us to the mountain of Your presence. # # #
EL SHADDAI Radio Program: http://www.eradioportal.com/index.php?p=2&aid=1&sid=50&tid=1
GOD BLESS US ALL!
O Theos Na Mas Evlogisi!
PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU.
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