WORTHY TO BE IN GOD’S PRESENCE

“The LORD appeared to Abraham. . . as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot. Looking up, Abraham saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran. from the entrance of the tent to greet them; and bowing to the ground, he said: ‘Sir, if I may ask you this favor, please do not go on past your servant. . . . Rest yourselves under the tree.’” The three men rested with Abraham who attentively  “ministered to them”. Genesis 18:1-10

The Then. A strange and interesting story: the LORD appearing to Abraham in an unexpected mystical moment, changing forever the ordinariness of his days.

Abraham focuses on nothing but them; he doesn’t recognize they are the LORD. He creates a comfortable space for them beneath an offshoot of their creation. He prepares food, “the “work of his hands” from the grain, milk and steer of their handiwork.

The Now. Would that you and I would let ourselves be as astute as Abraham, dropping our preoccupation with whatever has our attention, turning ourselves to “minister to God.”
We don’t have to go anywhere special to be with God. As with Abraham, God comes to us in the ordinariness of our day, in the guises of those we see and hear about. How open are we to “ministering to” them? . . . being with them, only to find that the LORD is there.

And at Mass, after the Consecration and Memorial Acclamation, we join the celebrant in conversation with the LORD  saying,
“As we celebrate the memorial of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, we offer you, LORD, the Bread of life and the Chalice of salvation, giving thanks that you have held us worthy to be in your presence and minister to you.” (Eucharistic Prayer 2)

Are these times at Mass precious-to-God moments, too – times when we finally stop our self-led activity and rest in the reality that He “holds us worthy to be in His presence”?  Surely, once we, the created ones, surrender our God-given power-over-the-moment and let this happen then, like Abraham, we will want nothing more than to be with Him, to eat with Him, to rest in His presence and hospitably “minister to Him.”

Do I let the Mass do this to me? Is it just a foreshadowing of our ultimate destiny? No, not a foreshadowing. It is the LORD, in the here and now, holding us worthy to be in His presence!

Sister Loretta