THE WORD THIS WEEKEND

At Catholic mass this weekend, you will read a section from Exodus and from Paul's letter to the Corinthians in which he speaks of Exodus.  The Gospel passage from Luke gives us lessons in both repentance and forgiveness.  I'd like to focus on Exodus because there is a magical phrase in it that has always eluded me.

This part of the Exodus story tells of a dialogue between God and Moses.  Moses was still trying to understand what had happened to him and his people.  They had escaped from the their Egyptian captures and were, it seemed, hopelessly wandering through the wilderness and desert.  Moses approached a burning bush that was not being consumed and he heard a voice tell him to stay away from the bush and to stay the course with his people.  It was the voice of God.  Moses said to God, "If the people ask me your name, what should I tell them?"  God said to Moses, "I am who am."

What does that mean?  Moses wanted a name because many of his people had multiple gods.  It was like, "Which one are you?  What is your name?"  God didn't really answer with a name but more a description that no other god could claim.  "Am" indicates existence.  There is no 'was' or 'will be'.  It indicates God exists not only now but always was and always will be.  There can be no other. 

There are so many things we can say about our God but the one thing that sets God apart from all others is God's existence before time began, now and for all eternity.  That's a long time. 

There is much to learn about God.  Some comes to us through logic; some from others and some from scriptures.  To know Him is to love Him.
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