Just How Close Can We Come? The Burning Bush of Moses, 3rd Sunday of Lent (Year C), March 23, 2025

The magnificent story of Moses and the Burning Bush reveals to Moses (and to us!) a God who has the ears to hear the cries of a people enslaved, humiliated, and impoverished. That God would care with a burning passion for the sufferings of a small tribe of Hebrews trapped in Egypt teaches both Moses and us so much about the God at the heart of our faith. But there is more to this story worthy of our consideration. The voice of God emanating from that burning bush also demands that Moses draw no closer. "Stop right where you are!" This spiritual sense that we human beings can only get so close to God travels through the centuries. Distance from God is essential for he is God and we are not! And it is precisely this that Jesus turns upside down with his coming to us in flesh and blood. In him, we are invited into the burning bush that is God's presence.

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.