The Provision Of The Tent Of Meeting

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Tuesday of 17th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1, July 27th, 2021
Texts: Ex. 33:7-11:34:5b-9.28; Ps. 103:6-7.8-13; Mtt.13:36-43
The tent of meeting was the place where God met with His people. It is a remedy to prevent apostasy in future. Moses would not have to go up the Mount of Sinai to meet God; he could meet God and speak with Him at the tent of meeting. The people of God were also meeting God at the tent. Unlike before,  the people now had access to God, no longer only Moses. With the tent of meeting, they would also know the welfare and whereabouts of Moses, and no longer thought he was dead while he was still alive. The provision of the tent of meeting tells us that God always provides a way of preventing us from falling into sin. God loves us  so much and does not give up on us; He does not stop rescuing us from sin. With God it is always difficult to get lost. We only get lost when we are obstinate, always rejecting His grace and salvation.
The location of the tent far off outside the camp shows the consequence of sin: sin often creates distance between us and God. Sin makes God remote from us. Though God has come closer to them in the tent but he would not be in their midst because of their sins. They had to go individually leaving their sins to meet the Lord in His holy ground. This reminds us that we have to live in holiness to experience the nearness of God; the more holy we become the nearer we are to God. The going outside the camp individually to meet God tells us that the healing of a community takes place individually. Conversion begins at individual level. Let us go out to meet God individually, that we might save ourselves and our community, our nation.
The tent of the meeting prefigured the Holy Eucharist. Holy Eucharist, today, is the presence of God among His people and in the world. In the Blessed Sacrament God continues to meet His people in a more spectacular and real way than the tent of meeting of the Old Testament. Let us always go to meet the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.  
The first reading reminds us to seek the Lord. We seek God when we seek His will. The people of God went to the camp to learn the commandments of God, His law and decrees, His statues and ordinances. We seek the Lord when we attend Catechism class, we seek the Lord when we attend Bible studies, we seek the Lord when we attend  doctrinal class, we seek the Lord when we attend know-your-faith class, we seek the Lord when we read and meditate on the words of God, we seek the Lord when we read the lives of the saints, we seek the Lord when we pray. Let us seek the Lord, for He is our life, our joy and our strength; without Him we are nothing.
In today's gospel reading, the disciples went to Jesus and asked for understanding of His parable and to deepen their knowledge of the kingdom of heaven. This is a reminder to take a step further than what we learn as a body. We need to meet the Lord individually for understanding of His word. Meeting the Lord individually helps to situate His words in the context of our lives and so understand them in our own circumstances. Meeting the Lord individually helps us to relate with His words and make them personal. Let us learn to seek the Lord individually, that we may grow in understanding of His words and wisdom.

Lord our Lord, help us with Your grace to always seek You and to live in holiness. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke