Pastor's Corner: What is in a name?

Ok, this is me a Roman Catholic breaking tradition!

Just to clarify the above statement; the tradition mentioned above is a personal tradition (that is why I used a lower-case t instead of an upper-case T) not a church tradition. The tradition I mean is my personal tradition of using the upcoming Sunday readings for this reflection in the paper. The readings I will be writing about are Exodus 3: 1-8a, 13-15, 1 Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12 and Luke 13: 1-9.

I am sure that you are all familiar with the reading from Exodus. These verses relate the story of God calling Moses to lead his people (the Israelites) from slavery to a "land flowing with milk and honey". Moses asks God to tell him his name so that the people will know for sure that Moses is not acting on his own accord, God tells Moses His name "I am who am."

In the Corinthian reading Paul is reminding the Corinthians of their common history with the Israelite people. Paul tells them of the people being led through the Red Sea (a form of baptism) and how they were led by a cloud and fed and watered by the hand of God with spiritual food and drink. Paul also mentions that during God's leadership and spiritual intervention the people still grumbled and lived in unbelief. For this they suffered death and were never able to enter the promised land. Paul tells the Corinthians that the events the Israelite people suffered are to serve as a warning and example to them and that they should "take care not to fall."

The Luke reading gives us a parable to wrestle with. Jesus tells of a landowner who had a fig tree planted on his land. For three years the fig tree fails to produce fruit, so the owner tells his gardener to cut the tree down because it is just using up good soil for no purpose. The gardener responds by asking for another year to cultivate, fertilize and care for the tree to see if it will produce fruit. If it does not produce fruit after that time the tree will be cut down.

Having written all of that, what meaning might these readings hold for us in this day and age?

Well considering the fact that we live in a broken and sinful world we can take great comfort in knowing that the God Moses talked with in the Exodus reading is still concerned with our situation here and now. God has and is taking action to alleviate our suffering. Not only that but God chooses to reveal His name to us and by doing this He reveals that He is a God who is very involved in our lives.

St. Thomas Aquinas spent much time contemplating what the name "I am who am" means to us as a people who are trying to grow in our relationship with God. Aquinas came to the conclusion that this name that God takes for Himself means existence itself. Existence not just for Himself but for all of creation. I Am who Am holds all of creation in existence. Not just at the beginning of creation but even now God is holding us and all other parts of creation in existence. What does this mean for us now?

Well, this means that God is intimately and continually involved with all of creation. Wrapped up in each and every part of creation. God is part of all created things but not dependent on any one part of creation. God is totally separate from all creation and at the same time clearly visible and present in all creation. That may sound like a paradox, but it is a reality. What are the implications for us with this kind of intimacy with God?

It means that God is always with us. In the joy, in the pain, in each and every event of our lives God Is with Us! So, if we accept this reality, we should begin to think about what God told Moses in the Exodus reading, "Remove the sandals from your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground." A sign of reverence acknowledging the fact that God is present right in front of you and in you.

How can this realization affect our lives? It means that all things that take place in our lives become holy events – as long as they lead us to recognize the presence of God more fully. It means that each person we encounter is God present to us and therefore deserves to be treated as such. I don't believe I have to elaborate on this much more other than to say that we exist because we are on holy ground in fact, we are holy ground.

Knowing this carries with it a huge responsibility, which I believe is pointed out in the Corinthians reading and Gospel reading mentioned. In the Corinthians reading Paul tells us that selfish desires can and will separate us from God and this indeed can lead us to "death by the destroyer." This is what is implied when the owner of the fig tree in the parable Jesus uses in the gospel. If we choose to live by selfish desires, there will be no option other than the death and destruction of the tree (us).

This is where the comments and the action of the gardener become the Good News. The gardener (God present, Jesus walking with us and the Holy Spirit within us), will cultivate the ground around us and fertilize us so that we will indeed be and continue to become Holy Ground. This means that because of the reality of God with us, each event of our lives becomes an event that can and will become gift to us and will help us to produce much fruit.

When this happens, we experience and come to know the great I Am who AM. God with us. God who holds us in existence and makes all of our lives, all we experience and all we say and do, holy ground.

If we choose to believe this and live this, it can never be taken from us. Not by anyone or by anything because this is what God desires for us.

This is what is in a name.

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Deacon Tim Maroney

St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church