Word to the Wise
Monday, August 7, 2023 - Monday in the 18th Week in Ordinary Time
[Num 11:4b-15 and Matt 14:13-21 or, in Year A, Matt 14:22-36,1031]"I cannot carry all this people by myself, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favor of killing me at once, so that I need no longer face this distress." [Numbers]
I love this scene because I've "been there; done that!" Any pastor has probably felt like Moses. Anyone in a position of authority, who didn't want the job to begin with, has felt like Moses!! The list of laments that Moses voices are so human! "Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me with all this people? Was it I who conceived all this people?" I say, "Amen, brother Moses!" The messiness of leadership is on full display. That journey for 40 years in the desert was no picnic for anybody, let alone Moses. Any parent of children who has had to pick up and move to a new place for whatever reason has heard the kids whine about how good they had it before they moved and how awful the process of moving is. Superiors of religious communities have heard the same complaints ("been there, done that").
One thing we can learn from this scene is that our relationship with God doesn't always have to be peaches and cream. We will be tempted to say to God in our distress, "This is all YOUR fault!! Why couldn't you have ........?" Well...God has chosen to work through us human creatures. God's reply would be basically, "Get over it!" Also the diet would not improve right away! One wonders if God was tempted to say, "Remember, Noah? Rainbow or no rainbow, my patience is wearing thin!" For now, we can think a bit about how God helps us through the messiness of life and somehow sends leaders and puts up with our complaining. AMEN