July 26, 2005
Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Psalm: Tuesday 33
Reading IEx 33:7-11; 34:5b-9, 28
The tent, which was called the meeting tent,
Moses used to pitch at some distance away, outside the camp.
Anyone who wished to consult the LORD
would go to this meeting tent outside the camp.
Whenever Moses went out to the tent, the people would all rise
and stand at the entrance of their own tents,
watching Moses until he entered the tent.
As Moses entered the tent, the column of cloud would come down
and stand at its entrance while the LORD spoke with Moses.
On seeing the column of cloud stand at the entrance of the tent,
all the people would rise and worship
at the entrance of their own tents.
The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face,
as one man speaks to another.
Moses would then return to the camp,
but his young assistant, Joshua, son of Nun,
would not move out of the tent.
Moses stood there with the LORD and proclaimed his name, "LORD."
Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out,
"The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity,
continuing his kindness for a thousand generations,
and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin;
yet not declaring the guilty guiltless,
but punishing children and grandchildren
to the third and fourth generation for their fathers' wickedness!"
Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.
Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O LORD,
do come along in our company.
This is indeed a stiff-necked people;
yet pardon our wickedness and sins,
and receive us as your own."
So Moses stayed there with the LORD for forty days and forty nights,
without eating any food or drinking any water,
and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant,
the ten commandments.
Responsorial PsalmPs 103:6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13
R. (8a)
The Lord is kind and merciful.The LORD secures justice
and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel.
R.
The Lord is kind and merciful.Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
R.
The Lord is kind and merciful.Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
R.
The Lord is kind and merciful.As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
R.
The Lord is kind and merciful.
GospelMt 13:36-43
Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house.
His disciples approached him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the Evil One,
and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his Kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the Kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."
From: Exodus 33:7-11; 34:5b-9, 28
The Tent of Meeting
[7] Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off
from the camp; and he called it the tent of meeting. And every one who
sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the
camp. [8] Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose up, and
every man stood at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he had gone
into the tent.
[5] (God) stood with him (Moses) there, and (Moses) proclaimed the name of
the Lord.
God Appears
[6] The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord, a God
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and
faithfulness, [7] keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's
children, to the third and the fourth generation." [8] And Moses made haste
to bow his head toward the earth, and worshiped. [9] And he said, "If now I
have found favor in thy sight, 0 Lord, let the Lord, I pray thee, go in the
midst of us, although it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity
and our sin, and take us for thy inheritance."
The Ritual Decalogue (Continuation)
[28] And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither
ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the
covenant, the ten commandments.
Commentary:
33:7-11. The tent of meeting, sometimes called the tent of witness, and also
the sanctuary, normally means the main tent in the sacred precinct (cf.
chaps. 25-27). Here, however, it seems to be different firm the sanctuary,
because the sanctuary was located in the center of the encampment and was a
place of worship, whereas this tent is pitched away from the camp and is
used for consultation. This discrepancy may well be due to the fact that
this passage belonged to an older tradition than the Priestly one. Whereas
the Priestly tradition lays the stress on matters to do with worship, the
earlier one would have focused more on social matters.
The sacred writer, through this account, is showing that God continues to be
present but at a certain distance, and that only Moses has the privilege of
speaking to him "face to face" (cf. 33:20). The people are simply the silent
witnesses of the conversations which take place between God and Moses, but
God still shows them special favor.
34:1-28. This chapter narrating the renewal of the Covenant follows the same
pattern as the account of its original establishment (cf. Ex 19-24); but it
is shorter, concentrating on the two main protagonists, God and Moses. Thus,
it begins with the preparations for the theophany and for the encounter with
the Lord (vv. 1-5); then follows the revelation of God, and Moses' prayer
(vv. 6-9); and it ends with the renewal of the Covenant and the so-called
Rite of the Covenant (vv. 10-28). The account hinges on the remaking of the
tables of stone after the sin of the golden calf; the tables symbolize God's
offer to keep to the pact and never to go back on it.
34:1-5. The theophany is described very soberly here, but it has exactly the
same elements as given in chapter 19: very careful preparation by Moses (v
2; cf. 19:10-11.); the people forbidden to approach the mountain (v.3; cf.
19:12-13); God appearing wrapped in the cloud (v. 5; cf. 19:16-20).
Comparing the two accounts, this one says less about the transcendence of
God and puts more stress on his closeness to Moses: "he stood with him
there" (v. 5). God's initiative in drawing close to man is clear to see; it
lies at the very basis of the Covenant.
"He proclaimed the name of the Lord" (v. 6); the context would suggest that
it is Moses who proclaims the name of the Lord, but the Hebrew could indeed
be as the RSV has it, "and he proclaimed his name, 'Lord' ". The same
wording appears in v. 6 implying that it is the Lord who is "proclaiming",
defining himself as he promised he would (cf 33:19). The sacred writer may
have intentionally left these words open to either interpretation; whether
spoken by Moses or said directly by God, they are equal from the revelation
point of view.
34:6-7. In response to Moses' pleading, the Lord makes himself manifest The
solemn repetition of the name of Yahweh (Lord) emphasizes that the Lord is
introducing himself liturgically to the assembled Israelites. In the
description of himself which follows (and which is repeated elsewhere, cf
20:5-6; Num 14:18; Deut 5:9-18; etc.), two key attributes of God are
underlined--justice and mercy. God cannot let sin go unpunished, nor does
he; the prophets, too, will teach that sin is, first and foremost, something
personal (cf. Jer 31:29; Ezek I 8:2ff). But this ancient text refers only in
a general way to the fact that God is just, and puts more stress on his
mercy. A person who is conscious of his own sin has access to God only if he
is sure that God can and will forgive him. "The concept of 'mercy' in the
Old Testament," John Paul II comments, "has a long and rich history. We have
to refer back to it in order that the mercy revealed by Christ may shine
forth more clearly. [...] Sin too constitutes man's misery. The people of
the Old Covenant experienced this misery from the time of the Exodus, when
they set up the golden calf. The Lord himself triumphed over this act of
breaking the covenant when he solemnly declared to Moses that he was a 'God
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and
faithfulness' (Ex 34:6). It is in this central revelation that the chosen
people, and each of its members, will find, every time that they have
sinned, the strength and the motive for turning to the Lord to remind him of
what he had exactly revealed about himself and to beseech his forgiveness"
("Dives In Misericordia", 4). On "God's jealousy", see the note on 20:5-6.
[The note on 20:5-6 states: "A jealous God": an antropomorphism emphasizing
the uniqueness of God. Since he is the only true God, he cannot abide either
the worship of other gods (cf. 34:14) or worship of idols. Idolatry is the
gravest and most condemned sin in the Bible (cf. "Catechism of the Catholic
Church", 2113). Those in charge of worship in the temple are described as
being "jealous" for the Lord (cf. Num 25:13; 1 Kings 19:10, 14), because
they have to watch to ensure that no deviations occur. When expelling the
money-changers from the temple (Jn 2:17), Jesus refers to this aspect of
priests' responsibility: "Zeal for thy house has consumed me" (Ps 69:9).
On the Lord's merciful retribution, cf. the note on Ex 34:6-7.]
34:8-9. Moses once more implores the Lord on behalf of his people; he makes
three requests, which sum up many earlier petitions: he begs God to stay
with the people and protect them in their hazardous journeying in the desert
(cf. 33:15-17), to forgive the very grave sin they have committed (cf.
32:11-14), and finally to make them his own property, thereby distinguishing
them from all other peoples (cf. 33:16) and restoring them to their status
as "his own possession" (cf. 19:5). These three requests are ones that were
constantly on the lips of the people of Israel and in the hearts of everyone
who acknowledges God (cf. Ps 86:1-15; 103:8-10; etc.).
34:7-8. The conclusion of the Covenant is described as soberly as its
introduction (v. 10). On the meaning of the forty days, see the note on
24:12-18.
[The note on 24:12-18 states: ...then Moses stayed on the mountain for forty
days, in close contact with the Lord. These periods of time are not meant to
be exact but rather to show how intense Moses' relationship with God was;
they will be evoked when important events are narrated later: thus, Elijah
walked for forty days in search of God (cf. 1 Kings 19:8) and Jesus will
spend forty days in the desert before beginning his public life (cf. Mt 4:2).]
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
From: Matthew 13:36-43
The Parable of the Weeds Explained
[36] Then He (Jesus) left the crowds and went into the house. And His
disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds
of the field." [37] He answered, "He who sows the good seed is the Son
of Man; [38] the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of
the Kingdom; the weeds are the sons of the evil one, [39] and the enemy
who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and
the reapers are angels. [40] Just as the weeds are gathered and burned
with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. [41] The Son of Man
will send His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all
causes of sin and evildoers, [42] and throw them out into the furnace of
fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. [43] Then the
righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He
who has ears, let him hear."
Commentary:
36-43. While making its way on earth, the Church is composed of good
and bad people, just men and sinners: they are mixed in with one
another until the harvest time, the end of the world, when the Son of
Man, in His capacity as Judge of the living and the dead, will divide
the good from the bad at the Last Judgment--the former going to eternal
glory, the inheritance of the saints; the latter, to the eternal fire
of Hell. Although the just and the sinners are now side by side, the
Church has the right and the duty to exclude those who cause scandal,
especially those who attack its doctrine and unity; this is can do
through ecclesiastical excommunication and other canonical penalties.
However, excommunication has a medicinal and pastoral function--to
correct those who are obstinate in error, and to protect others from
them.
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
From this early Christian writing have come several of the feast days of Mary, particularly the Immaculate Conception, the Nativity of Mary, and her Assumption into Heaven. Very early also came feast days in honor of SS. Joachim and Anne, and in the Middle Ages numerous churches, chapels, and confraternities were dedicated to St. Anne. The couple early became models of Christian marriage, and their meeting at the Golden Gate in Jerusalem has been a favorite subject of Christian artists. 
