Wednesday, December 18, 2013

I AM with you.


"O sacred Lord of ancient Israel,
 who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush,
 who gave him the holy law on Mount Sinai:
 come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free."
The Hebrew suffiix "el" means "God,"  as in Bethel, House of God, and Emmanuel, God-with-us.  But when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and Moses asked God's proper name, God's response in Hebrew is usually transliterated YMDG.  Divine Mystery is so revered by observant Jews that they never say out loud the Name those letters stand for.  God is totally beyond us.
In Matthew 1:18-25 a very confused, yet trusting, Joseph is considering divorcing Mary because she is pregnant.  An angel tells him that the child is from the Holy Spirit.  Matthew concludes by quoting Isaiah, "And they shall call him Emmanuel, a name which means God-with-us."
The God who is totally beyond us is now "God-with-us."  Divine Mystery has become human flesh and is now permanently with our world.  The very last words in Matthew's Gospel are "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

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