Ex 32: 7-14         
Ps.106:19-23 Jn: 5: 31-47

In the first reading, Moses has a testy conversation with God, which results in a renewal of the Commitment between God and His people.  God is faithful, even though His people fail.

In the second reading, Jesus converses with the people of his time on the same topic: what will it take for you to have faith in God’s commitment to you? Don’t just trust my words, he says, or John the Baptist’s words.  But look around you at the works God is doing through me. Trust what you see happening.

Moses conveyed God’s presence to the people of his time.  Jesus did the same to the people of his time. Both witnessed to the commitment God makes with people of faith. What about us here and now?

Our faith is that God raised Jesus from the dead, breaking open his human limitations of time and space, language and culture, physical presence.  That resurrection is the ultimate commitment between humanity and God, now and forever. We call the presence of the Resurrected Christ the Spirit.

The crucifix behind the altar in the STM chapel depicts this belief symbolically.  There is the death of Jesus, and there is the Spirit emanating from that body to the body of God’s people.   God is as present and as committed to humanity today as he has always been.  

This reading is our paradigm:  as in the day of Moses’ people and in the day of Jesus’ people, the Word of God is directed to you and to me in our very particular circumstances.  So how do we engage in this conversation? That you are reading these blogs means you are already engaged.  Like any good conversation, it is open-ended. Intentionally, we take time to listen. We are invited to respond: personally, communally, repeatedly.