Thursday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 27, 2023

Exodus 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20

In the third month after their departure from the land of Egypt, on its first day, the children of Israel came to the desert of Sinai. After the journey from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai, they pitched camp.  While Israel was encamped here in front of the mountain, the Lord told Moses, “I am coming to you in a dense cloud, so that when the people hear me speaking with you, they may always have faith in you also.” When Moses, then, had reported to the Lord the response of the people, the Lord added, “Go to the people and have them sanctify themselves today and tomorrow. Make them wash their garments and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people.”  On the morning of the third day there were peals of thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. But Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stationed themselves at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was all wrapped in smoke, for the Lord came down upon it in fire. The smoke rose from it as though from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. The trumpet blast grew louder and louder, while Moses was speaking and God answering him with thunder.  When the Lord came down to the top of Mount Sinai, he summoned Moses to the top of the mountain.

It is hard not to read the First Reading for today’s Mass and not think of the Holy Mass.  We can understand the Lord’s words to Moses, “I am coming to you in a dense cloud, so that when the people hear me speaking with you, they may always have faith in you also” as the Lord’s words to the Church, that the Lord will come down to the faithful in a “dense cloud”, that is, in the mystery of the Holy Eucharist.”  He will speak to the faithful too in order to teach them.  He will teach them through his Holy Church, and they will learn the subject of his teaching and also that the Holy Church is the instrument of his teaching.  The Lord then teaches the Church how the faithful are to prepare for his coming down to them, “Go to the people and have them sanctify themselves today and tomorrow. Make them wash their garments and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people.”  That is, Tell the faithful to repent of their sins, to go to confession and to do penance: I will come to them on the third day in order to give them time to cleanse themselves of anything that draws them away from me.  I will come to them on the third day as I came to the Apostles on the third day: as they mourned for me for three days, mourn over your sins in the days before you worship me at Holy Mass.

“On the morning of the third day there were peals of thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.”  The “thunder” and “lightning” are the Scripture readings that are proclaimed before the Gospel.  They move us and fill us with awe, preparing us for the words of the Lord himself, which are signified by the trumpet blast.  We should indeed tremble to hear them for they reach into our inmost being and confront us with the truth about God and ourselves.  “Stationed . . . at the foot of the mountain”, that is, of the altar, we see it “all wrapped in smoke”, that is, we see the mystery of the changing of the consecrated bread and wine into the Flesh and Blood of God.  We see it in mystery, for the forms of the species remain unchanged while their substances are transformed for the Lord comes down upon the altar “in fire”, in his very self.  “The smoke rose from it as though from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.” The significance of this event is proclaimed by the ringing of bells at each transubstantiation.  At this moment the holy angels who fill the sanctuary cry out in a loud voice: “Alleluia!  Salvation and glory and power is to our God!” (Revelation 19, 1).  If heaven trembles, so much more should the earth, and so those with faith are shaken with wonder and joy at the Lord’s coming.  “The trumpet blast grew louder and louder, while Moses was speaking and God answering him with thunder.”  Now comes the time for Holy Communion, for the greatest intimacy between God and his faithful ones.  It is a time of great glory for God and for those prepared to receive him.  The angels rejoice and heaven looks forward to the day when she will be filled with all the saints of God.  His faithful become temples for him, tabernacles for him.  We do not have any idea how beautiful we appear to him when we have received him.

“When the Lord came down to the top of Mount Sinai, he summoned Moses to the top of the mountain.”  The Lord comes down from heaven onto our altars and into our bodies and souls in order to brings us up with him to heaven for we can hardly get there by ourselves.  He comes for us to receive him so that he may receive us in his Holy Church which is as “a bride prepared for her husband” (Revelation 21, 2).

We ought to pray fervently that we might know the Holy Mass for what it truly is for it is through the Mass that we worship God, receive him, and are taken up by him.