Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time 

The Responsorial Verse invites us, “Sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory” (Exodus 15). What is God’s glory? Where do we see it? 

The Hebrew word for glory, unlike ours, does not speak of fame, but of the actual value of someone. God’s “glory” is God himself revealing his power and holiness, the majesty and dynamism of his being. What reveals this to us? 

In Exodus 14: 5-18, when the people saw the Egyptians coming in pursuit, in their fright, they thought God had betrayed them. And this is the temptation we all feel when pain is unbearable. Where is God? Why does he let this happen? 

“For countless [Vietnam] veterans, that same question remains unanswered. They… are convinced that God failed them at their moment of greatest need…. [They] had been led to believe that God would never let them down, that he would always lead them to victory over evil and preserve them in battle…. They feel terribly betrayed to this day” (Out of the Night, Mahedy, Ballantine, 1986).  

In the Exodus story, God revealed his glory through victory. And this was fairly typical in the Old Testament. God revealed himself in terms people could understand. But with Jesus, all this changed. Difficult as it is for us to accept, Jesus does not promise to save us from suffering. He just promises to save us through it when it happens, so that nothing can truly harm us (Luke 21: 16-19). Like Jesus, we and all we love will rise to glory. Can we accept a savior who saves us this way? 

In Matthew 12: 38-42 Jesus tells the Pharisees the only “sign” he will give to reveal his glory to them is the “sign of Jonah,” his death and resurrection. The great scandal to both Jews and Christians, then and now, is that God let Jesus be defeated. The Father apparently abandoned his Son to his enemies. Not until Jesus’ resurrection did they see his glory, but it was already fully present in his sacrificial death — a sign for those who have eyes to see. 

The sign of Jesus’ resurrection today is his life, visibly evident on earth in the members of his risen body, the Church. In the measure that our actions cannot be explained without grace, the presence of Jesus’ own divine life in us, we are the “sign of Jonah.” This is what “glorifies” Jesus and the Father (John 15:8; 17:10). The glory of God appears in our ministry when through our expression of divine faith, hope and love we make it evident Jesus has risen, is alive, and is using his power now to save people by working in and through us, his risen body on earth. “Let us sing to the Lord”: he is covering himself in glory now, through our ministry. 

Initiative: Be a priest. Glorify God by letting his life express itself in you.

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #395, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.