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“If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company”

The day after the baptism party for one of my siblings, two relatives showed up unannounced. They could not make it the day before, so they thought they would stop by that day. As you can imagine, the house was a mess, I am sure the three of us under the age of six we were overtired, and I am confident my mother in no way wanted to host additional guests in the aftermath of the previous day’s celebration. They were, however, invited in and had no problem visiting us in our messiness.

In the first reading, Moses stands before God on Mount Sinai. In previous chapters, the Israelites rebelled and worshiped the golden calf. Here Moses intercedes on behalf of the people, praising God and asking that the Lord God come among them; even into the mess of a divided and rebellious people. Moses’ prayer is answered in a radical way, a way he never would have anticipated, in the Gospel. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” God is invited and he comes in His own time into the mess of our lives. God accompanies his people, despite, and even amid, our own faults and failings – our mess

What does it mean for us today to ask the Lord to come into our company? We are asking him to come into our messy world. We are living in a highly divided time. There’s a tendency at the highest level and across the political spectrum to hurl insults rather than engage in dialogue, to impose ideologies rather than acknowledge the value of difference. We won’t always agree with one another, but there are commonalities to which Christians should resolve themselves. In a time of suspicion and division, we are called, as always, to an imitation of God who comes into the world as a community of Father, Son and Spirit. With this Holy Trinity, we are called to be a communion of persons united in truth by the bond of love. We are called to welcome the stranger, to befriend the single parent and the prodigal child, to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, pray for those who persecute us, and love both our neighbors and our enemies.

We ought not fear the company of the Holy Trinity in our messy lives, but long for it. An awareness of the presence of one God in three persons can empower us to begin to clean up the mess, transforming all of creation, which longs to be united in a true bond of everlasting peace.

Peace!