This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
There is something startling about today’s psalm, in light of the first reading: “In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.”
At first glance, the first reading does not appear to paint a picture of God as refuge. Rather, we seem to find the root quintessence of the image some have of the Old Testament God as wrathful. With exclamations, God hands down the terrible consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve.
As usual with such assessments, though, this image some have of an angry God undervalues the gravity of sin–of thwarting the omnipotent God. Well might God simply have removed His thoughts from Adam and Eve, upon which they simply would have ceased to exist. Or, he could have imposed eternal damnation then and there.
Instead, the consequences He metes out are incredibly measured. He stands in the breach and reduces the impact of their sin to, effectively, a more difficult life, and one that is limited in span.
God is their refuge, even as He imposes just consequences. He Himself crafts leather garments for them. He accommodates and adapts to the new situation they have brought on for themselves through their disobedience–their shame at their nakedness.
And once salvation comes in Christ, His Providence pours out an overabundance of love. We see the full measure of what we receive in Christ prefigured in today’s gospel, in the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. He takes the good bestowed on us by nature, and in His love extends it limitlessly, without measure.
But in the end, “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him.” (Cf. 1 Cor. 2:9) We have literally no idea how blessed we will be in eternity for having chosen, unlike Adam and Eve, obedience to God and salvation in His Christ.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Obedience takes special grace from God, won by Christ through His obedience on the Cross. Ask Jesus, among all the charisms God gives, to give you the only one that really matters in the end: The charism of obedience. Ask Him for this gift above all others, even if it were to mean sacrificing all the rest.
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