The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with the challenge of how to respond to the revelation we may experience on our journey.
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| Contemplate revelation |
The reading from Numbers chronicles the need for water of the Israelites at Kadesh and presents the sin of Moses and Aaron in their response to the Word of God.
* [20:11] Twice: perhaps because he did not have sufficient faith to work the wonder with the first blow. Cf. v. 12.1
Psalm 95 is an invitation to praise God that regularly opens the Church’s official prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours.
* [Psalm 95] Twice the Psalm calls the people to praise and worship God (Ps 95:1–2, 6), the king of all creatures (Ps 95:3–5) and shepherd of the flock (Ps 95:7a, 7b). The last strophe warns the people to be more faithful than were their ancestors in the journey to the promised land (Ps 95:7c–11). This invitation to praise God regularly opens the Church’s official prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours.2
In the Gospel from Matthew, Peter’s confession about Jesus is followed by a prediction of the Passion that Peter handles poorly.
* [16:17] Flesh and blood: a Semitic expression for human beings, especially in their weakness. Has not revealed this…but my heavenly Father: that Peter’s faith is spoken of as coming not through human means but through a revelation from God is similar to Paul’s description of his recognition of who Jesus was; see Gal 1:15–16, “…when he [God]…was pleased to reveal his Son to me….”3
Tom Lenz asks how do we know when God is communicating with us? This is the question that easy to ask because we can sometimes be skeptical. But, when we are one with God and God is one with us in the moment, there is a feeling. This feeling is unique and sometimes difficult to describe. But it is wonderful and you know it comes from God.
The disciples of Jesus knew that he was the Son of God because they had that feeling that could only come from God. The feeling that God was communicating directly with each of them in a very personal way to let them know that Jesus was his son. This feeling is not one that comes from another person, but only from and through God. Learning how to be a contemplative has been amazing because I have come to understand that God is a living God and is with me at every moment of every day loving me and guiding my actions. My prayer for all of us is that we can be present and open to the everyday communications with God so that we can feel his love and guidance.4
Don Schwager quotes “Only by hope, by Basil the Great,” 329-379 A.D.
"'Turn, O my soul, into your rest: for the Lord has been bountiful to you' (Psalm 114:7). The brave contestant applies to himself the consoling words, very much like to Paul, when he says: 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. For the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice.' These things the prophet also says to himself: Since you have fulfilled sufficiently the course of this life, turn then to your rest, 'for the Lord has been bountiful to you.' For, eternal rest lies before those who have struggled through the present life observant of the laws, a rest not given in payment for a debt owed for their works but provided as a grace of the munificent God for those who have hoped in him." (excerpt from HOMILIES 22)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Numbers 20:1-13 asks isn’t it encouraging to know that God isn’t limited by our sins? He can rise above whatever we do and still reveal his goodness.
Today’s reading tells us that we have the privilege of sharing in Jesus’ work, but it’s still Jesus who does the work. And he sometimes does it in spite of his servants. It’s his word, not necessarily our work, that makes the difference. It doesn’t depend only on us.
God’s word is as living and effective today as it was in Moses’ time. He speaks through the Scriptures and in the silence of our hearts. He speaks to our loved ones, and to us. And when he speaks, his word gives life.6
Friar Jude Winkler raises the question of the exact nature of Moses offense. The date of the death of Peter precedes the writing of the Gospel of Matthew. This is an argument for the continuation of Peter’s authority in the papacy. Friar Jude compares the treatment of Peter’s Commission in other Gospel texts.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, writes that contemplation normally is associated with formal religious institutions, yet it both precedes and exceeds religion itself.
Although contemplation and mysticism can invoke rarefied experiences, “the true contemplative,” Catholic priest and Zen master Pat Hawk writes, “does not strive for unity of Divine and human only at specific times of prayer, but in all circumstances and conditions of daily life: washing dishes, caring for children, family, work, sleeping.” [5]7
New traditions of contemplation—interfaith, interspiritual, intermonastic—pass beyond religious forms into deep states of consciousness that—while remaining part of the enduring wisdom of the world’s religions—also are the site of new spiritual traditions and forms of practice. Our reaction to revelation may be guided by our contemplative experience.
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