Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 27, 2023
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Exodus 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20b
Moses had now led the Israelites to the foot of Mount Sinai, and instructed them to prepare themselves for the coming of God. On the appointed day there was thunder and lightning and trumpet blasts and earthquake. The whole mountain trembled.
The Lord ordered the people not to go up the mountain. They were to maintain a reverential distance. God would speak to Moses privately, away from the people. God wasn’t intending to frighten the people by these tremendous happenings. He was trying to instill in them a sense of awe and reverence in his presence. God was mighty God, and not to be trifled with.
God demands our reverence today, not with cosmic events perhaps, but with manifestations of power that demand our attention.
