ADVOCATE

Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 106 Remember us O lord, as you favor your people; John 5:31-47

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.
Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.” Pope John XXIII

Here is a  little snippet from the future Saint Pope John XXIII. I thought it might be a good appetizer for the soon to be canonization of him along with Pope John Paul II.

Concern yourself  not with what you tried and failed but with what is still possible for you to do.

It sounds a lot like the mentality of Moses in today's first reading.  Once again he comes up against the stubbornness of the people he is asked to lead.  They find themselves turning away form God and worshipping idols.

God is ready to do away with the whole lot.  Moses becomes their advocate, the advocate of God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.  Moses has a keen eye for what is still possible even in the midst of failure though cleansing will be necessary.  Cleansing is intimately connected to true possibilities.

The same sentiment arises from the gospel as Jesus exclaims, "How can you believe, when you accept praise form one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God."

True possibilities are found when we seek praise from God alone.

Only in this shift of mind can we become more deeply aware of true possibilities that lie hidden or disguised in the unfolding events and circumstances of our life.

Thus we become a Advocate not unlike Moses even when things look bleak we see the light amongst the shadows realizing that shadows exist to magnify the light.