Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Sunset in the retreat center
at St. Meinrad

Joshua in turn said to the people,

“You may not be able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God;
he is a jealous God who will not forgive
your transgressions or your sins.
If, after the good he has done for you,
you forsake the LORD and serve strange gods,
he will do evil to you and destroy you.”
But the people answered Joshua, “We will still serve the LORD.”

We have seen the punishment Moses suffered for his lapse. Angered and exhausted by the irrational fears and constant demands of his people, in a moment of weakness he usurped God’s authority. He claimed to bring water from the rock by his own power, and misrepresented the mercy of God to his people. We should have learned from his experience that God shows no partiality toward anyone. He will not abide sin even in the greatest of his prophets. (Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality….) Because God has done good for us, he will not tolerate our forsaking him to serve strange gods.

In today’s reading, Joshua lays it out before them, “If you want to leave, now is the time to do it!” But they had seen the mercy of God, they had accepted his covenant, they not only loved the Lord, they felt attached to him as his people. They would not turn away.

Joshua was speaking to a new generation of Hebrews there in the desert. Those who had sinned against the Lord when they worshipped a golden calf as an image of God were all dead. Joshua called this next generation to renew the covenant and they eagerly did so. They swore, as their parents had sworn, for themselves and all succeeding generations.

More than three thousand years later, we also must choose. It is never enough to suppose that we have always been Christian or have always been Catholic. As Jesus said, Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. By this Jesus reminds us that God doesn’t need us! we need God.

And so we must recommit ourselves often. We do that with every Baptism and Eucharist, with every Examination of Conscience and every Morning Offering. We do that whenever we admit that we have sinned and must apologize.

The mystics teach us to “practice the presence of God” continually. There should never be a moment when I suppose that “God won’t mind if I…” or “God doesn’t care if I….” God does care! And God does mind. We are always in God’s mind; and he should always be in our mind.

We belong to God. This quality of belonging must soak into us, penetrating the darkest places of the unconscious mind, discovering those dungeons of the soul where fear and resentment of God still abide. These tormenting demons can be brought into the light -- not with violence but with courtesy -- as frightened, uncomprehending prisoners who will be forgiven by the majesty of God. In an ecstasy of penance we realize we have nothing to fear in God’s love, not even our own persistent foolishness.