Present - in our wandering
- Gary Fritsch
- Jul 31
- 3 min read
Our Old Testament reading today really struck me. Check out this line: "In the daytime the cloud of the LORD was seen over the Dwelling; whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud by the whole house of Israel in all the stages of their journey." Exodus 40:38
For forty years God was present with them in their wanderings in the desert in a very real and tangible way. It can make you wonder: "Where is God now?"
I would argue that The Lord is closer to us now, and in a more real way than He was then. As we consider this, we should first recognize that number of people that were wandering in the desert is much greater than most people imagine. When I ask in Bible studies how many people were in the desert, I usually get 10,000 or 40,000 people as an answer. The reality is that there were likely close to two million people. No joke. The book of numbers records 603,550 fighting age men as counted in a census of the twelve tribes - and the tribe of Levi was not included in this number. If we consider that there were probably equal numbers of women in that age, we are now at 1.2 million. Add the Levites, the aged and the children under the age of 15 or so and the number is easily 1.7 and likely closer to 2 million. This is the number of people that saw the cloud and the fire as they wandered in the desert.
What about today? After instituting the Eucharist, Jesus tells the Apostles that He will be 'with us until the end of the age'. In the Eucharist Jesus appears not as fire or smoke, but as food so that he might travel more that with us, but IN US. I know we have all heard discouraging stories about Mass attendance numbers etc., but the truth is that even the most conservative estimates place the number of Catholics receiving the Eucharist each Sunday at about 240 million, and the number that receive at least once per year is over a billion. That's a huge qualitative and quantitative difference.
It's good thing. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a "net thrown into the sea which collects fish of every kind." I think of this every time there is a calamity or natural disaster. Not every person is taken, some taken are close to Lord and some are not. In the ancient Jewish tradition, loving someone is to face them and go toward them, and hating is to turn your back and go away. If calamity struck in the desert (and it did) consider this: even though The Lord was very present, how many were close to Him, turned toward Him, loving Him? When we consider the episode of the seraph serpents, I think we can see the answer.
So, I think that The Lord is offering to be closer than ever, in greater numbers than ever, so that we do not need to fear calamity. We should only then concern ourselves with bringing all whom we love closer to The Lord.
Side note: If you have someone in your life who seems to be drawing closer to the Lord in some way, encourage them. If I can help in any way, please let me know. Perhaps they might accept an invitation to The SEARCH at Cadence Clubhouse starting in September, or one of our Sunday
way | truth | life sessions at St. Martha and Mary Parish. See the events page for more details or message me through the site - Gary
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