March
7, 2010
3rd Sunday of Lent
Exodus 3:1-8a,13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12;
Luke 13:1-9
Reflection by Brigid Brady, OP
Today’s first reading reminds us that the God of Abraham called Moses from herding his father-in-law’s sheep through the unlikely medium of a bush in the desert—a bush aflame but not consumed. Fire—an elemental force of nature, radiating light and heat and—in the normal course of terrestrial events—destruction. This surprising bush gave forth light and presumably heat—and transformation.
We have seen plenty of destruction in recent days—in Port au Prince, in Santiago, in Concepción and in places even closer to home as well as war-torn lands on the other side of the globe. We feel it in our own fatigue and pain and in our sense of diminishment. But are we reading these signs of our time aright? Certainly there is destruction enough and to spare in our world—and we keep willfully adding to it through human conflict and waste. But is there not also transformation?
A world rocked by change and destructive forces requires us to walk carefully, to look with clear vision, and to listen with rapt attention. Can we hear the voice of God in the fires of our world? Can we find the transformation in our disaster-weary hearts? The God of Abraham has not abandoned us (else he would not be the God of Abraham)!
Moses left the sheep of Jethro his father-in-law to become shepherd to the Lord’s flock, the house of Israel. To what new or transformed venture are we being called in these tumultuous times?