Moses, Are You Done Yet?

 The quarantine has made me think of the Israelites' journey through the desert.  Leaving their usual life in Egypt and trekking through the desert was an uncomfortable unknown.

What would become of them?  What if they didn't make it?  What if their loved ones didn't make it?  Would life ever go back to normal?  What lies ahead.  How long, O Lord? 

Even though the people of Israel's journey was physical, they must have had the same thoughts we have going through COVID-19 restrictions.  Besides the mental anxiety, they obviously were affected spiritually.  Hence the golden idol.

About that idol: I cut them a lot of slack in making that idol.  When Moses went up that mountain, he was gone for a long time.  Too long a time for tired, worried, frightened, and bored people.  When Moses was there, his presence reminded them of God.  But Moses was gone.  Also, the Israelites had just come from Egypt where they saw the Egyptians worshipping idols. So when Moses went, so did God, and they remembered the Egyptian's god.  I think they made the idol and called it Yahweh and really were thinking in their minds and hearts--Yahweh, not the Egyptian god.  Scriptures don't say what they called the idol.  

All the people wanted was something tangible.  Something to touch, to feel, to kiss, to see--not an abstract idea.  

Thank God I'm Catholic and can see, touch, and feel pictures and statues.  I certainly am not worshipping paper, plaster, marble, paint, etc..  I am worshipping depictions of divinity.  I don't love the family picture above the fireplace; I love the people depicted in the painting.

And that's what I miss in this quarantine.  I miss kissing and hugging.

Moses is taking too long.  Time to end this physical desert.