Moses encounters the burning bush. And from this bush God addresses him as "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob..."
God reveals himself as a personal God. In the biblical record, God is seen as a God of a particular place, and there are altars set up all over the place, near trees, or springs, or some mysterious stone. God was a god of a respective area.
Pope Benedict directs our attention to the reality that God, when he addresses Moses, is revealing something new, god is not a god of a place, but a god of men. He is not bound to one spot but present and powerful wherever man is. He is not anywhere in particular; he is always to be found where man is and where man lets himself be found by him.
As God tells Moses, "I will be with you," it reveals to us that we never go alone. Thus, as Pope Benedict points out, "faith is an orientation of our existence as a whole...it is a personal act" by which we allow the personal God not only to journey with us but to orient and direct our steps on this journey.
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Bonaventure, a doctor of the church. His name comes from the expression spoken by St. Francis of Assisi. Bonaventure, when a child was sick to the point of death. No one knew what to do, until one day his mother heard that St. Francis was near. She took the child to St. Francis who prayed over him and was cured. Upon the miracle, St. Francis responded O buona ventura that a good fortune/ venture was coming.
Thus, we have the feast of St. Bonaventure.
As we look to the first reading, God invites Moses to a buona venture,a good adventure, because God himself goes with him. A venture centered on faith is in deed a buona ventura, good fortune for God is at the helm.
prayer for the day
"Lord, as daylight fills the sky, fill us with your holy light. May our lives mirror our love for you whose wisdom has brought us into being, and whose care guides us on our way. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy SPirit, one god, for ever and ever."
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