Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Recently, we had a conversation at work amongst our staff that about change. What struck me was that most of us felt people could change, while others thought generally people can not change. What I found so profound about this conversation is that we all work for an organization whose main mission is conversion.
Moses was already a change agent by the time he climbed up Sinai to receive the commandments. He had already encountered the Lord before in the burning bush. Yet, this encounter seemed more intense. Perhaps it was the forty days and nights of fasting in the constant presence of the Lord. What we do know is that the radiance of his face made him look different and this caused many to fear Moses. We also have opportunities for profound encounters with the Lord that can change us. Are the changes recognizable to others?
The Lord changes us through our sacramental encounters especially through Eucharist. Do we cover up these changes? Have the reactions of others to our deepening spirituality caused us to temper the changes publicly? Perhaps people find these changes exciting, curious, or even with a large degree of disinterest. Other people may not understand this conversion or find it threatening to their own framework of faith. This may cause some to want to hide their rich faith experience.
Hiding the richness of deep faith can send the message that faith is not even a treasure we possess. Like Moses, we too must become change agents willing to deliver the Lord’s message. Yet how do we allow God to transform us? One great way is to enter fully into the liturgical celebrations of the Church. By placing ourselves openly into God’s presence, the exposure will allow that which is profane in us to be transformed.
By fully embracing the treasure of our faith communities, our sacramental imagination and through conforming obediently to the commandments, we by definition will be changed. This change, we call conversion, is a natural movement of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit can not only recreate us, but through us the Spirit can renew the face of the earth. Then the question becomes: Can and will we allow God’s Spirit to transform us into an instrument of renewal? Lord willing, all of us in harmony responds: Yes We Can! Yes We Will!
-Michael Montgomery