"For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?"
- Deuteronomy 4
A short reflection for now in this 40 Days of Blogging-palooza... On the Eucharist.
I actually missed posting yesterday but had at least popped the above verse from yesterday's reading from Deuteronomy in here. It's got power. And as radical as the Jewish receptivity was to this unique, personal, intimate, monotheistic, and deeply monogamous revelation of God to them was, they had no idea just how close He wanted to come.
The Jews were a joke to their generation, to the pagans surrounding them with their multiple, man made gods who had to be appeased or they'd punish. The Jews believed there was One God and He was more a Lover than a Master, more interested in virgin (or pure and whole) hearts than virgin sacrifices (though admittedly it took a few centuries for that to sink in!)
The Christians though, and the Word they received was far more scandalous. God wants to literally come into our hearts, not just "move" them from afar by His Majesty and Power. He is such a Lover (Love Itself, as St. John would reveal) that He was willing to strip Himself down for us, leave the heavens, become a man and further still become man's food. He'd devised a way to really enter hearts, through our lips. As our food.
I'll stop there. It's enough to confound angels and send St. Joseph of Cupertino levitating above the church pews (please google him). Let's pray on this. Better still let's become the prey of this Divine Lover who even today wants to consummate His immense love for us at the altar of the Mass.
"For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?"
- Deuteronomy 4
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