preparing to encounter God - 16th week Thursday
In
the book of Exodus, in our first reading today, the people prepared themselves
for what is called the theophany.
Theophany means the manifestation of God, the encounter between God and
his people. As it is written, “on the
third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the
people.” To prepare for this encounter
they have to sanctify themselves and curiously, they also have to wash their
clothes. Washing clothes is no ordinary
task for a people who had made the desert their home. Imagine thousands of people washing their clothes
at a place where water is so scarce. But
making oneself presentable physically and outwardly were considered an
important part of the preparations for the encounter with God, so important in
fact that it was worth mentioning in the book of Exodus, and worth doing in a
desert.
Why
are these preparations important?
Encountering
God is something we look forward to, something we anticipate, something we
prepare for. It is not as if we are
passing by the church on our way to the mall.
It is not as if I am going to mass just in case I am early for
school. Our outward preparations create
in us an expectant heart. It makes the
encounter important.
Encountering
God is not an ordinary experience. It is
special. There was this woman who said
that even at home when she prays her morning prayer she just doesn’t jump out
of bed and pray. No, she said, she goes
through her morning rituals first – the washing, the brushing, the bathing, the
combing, and the dressing up. Only then
will she pray her morning prayer. She’s
not going anywhere. She thought that it was
only proper to meet God prepared and groomed.
It is our outward preparations that create the difference of this
activity from all our other activities.
It makes the encounter extraordinary, it makes it special.
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