The Nearness of You

​A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, May 26th, 2024:
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

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Deuteronomy
​4.32-34, 39-40

Moses spoke to the people saying, “Ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created man on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: ‘Has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of?’

“Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

“So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

It's not the pale moon that excites me
That thrills and delights me
Oh no
It's just the nearness of you

— Ned Washington, The Nearness of You

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Why quote a Norah Jones cover in a reflection on a Scripture passage, you might ask. Well, besides the fact that the simple melody and gentle rasp of her voice are just exquisitely beautiful and ought to be enjoyed sometimes, today’s First Reading sits nicely in this quote from the love song The Nearness of You, and it drives home the tenderness of the Lord as our Divine Bridegroom.

In today’s passage, Moses is encouraging the Israelites to reflect on the great marvels God has done for this particular nation. I love his passion in encouraging them to inquire, ask everyone they can find, seek out from the beginning of time until the end whether anything so marvelous has ever happened. What is so phenomenal about the way the Lord is treating Israel is the nearness He keeps with them. He actually speaks directly to them out of a fire. He fights to make this nation His very own, even amid trials and amid struggles and (Moses leaves this part out) amid many, many complaints from the Israelites. In an earlier verse of the same chapter (Deuteronomy 4:8), Moses puts it differently: “What other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him?”

This passage often comes to my mind when I’m sitting in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. (I don’t want to assume that everyone has been to Adoration before. It is a time of prayer in which the Eucharist is beautifully displayed on the altar, and you sit quietly nearby to adore Him.) If you haven’t ever been, I ask you, dear friend: would you like to be wooed by the tender nearness of the Lord the way Norah Jones is wooed by her lover? I think the answer must be yes. Then go, go to Adoration! It is a moment to sit quietly with the Lord and to simply look at Him as He looks at you, or to speak in the silence of your heart with Him. The quiet intimacy of this time of prayer is a complete marvel when you consider Who it is sitting silently with you there. The God of the Universe is sitting still to be with you. In your heart of hearts, you may find that you want to join Moses in a spirit of wonder: “Has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of?”



Sr. Angela Burnham

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