The Burning Bush

Moses, a murderer, is on the run from the law. He escapes into a new land, into Midian. There he gets married. He gets committed to his father-in-law’s shepherding business. Gets settled, but only almost. It was at this time that God hears the groan of the Israelites who were under the Egyptian slavery. Lord God hears their sigh in Egypt and remembers His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

While Moses thinks everything’s well with himself and his world, he gets his call from above. In one of his shepherding trips beyond the wilderness and into Horeb, which actually turns out to be the Mountain of God, he encounters a bush that burns without being consumed. How curious! That’s not only strange, but something impossible. Contradictory! That can never happen. Struck by awe, he takes off his shoes as he is instructed. The very earth beneath his feet becomes holy ground, because he encounters Being Itself, God Himself. He surrenders himself to God, who shepherds him away from his usual business to something unusual and unimaginable. Moses becomes the great Liberator, God’s greatest instrument in the history of Israel.

The Burning Bush stands for our spiritual journey which is a constant interplay between moments of awe followed by a general process of surrender to that moment. We all have these special moments of encounter with the divine, with the transcendent creating in us a sense of awe and wonder. But do we follow it up with a moment of surrender?

We all have these awe moments many times not just once or twice in our lifetime. These are our Burning Bushes. They show that God is real, His love is really real—everything else is relative, when we heed to God’s voice from within these burning bushes, and surrender to the Person behind it, our life will take turns… many turns, many changes. Every God-encounter invites us to transformation.

These God-encounters come to us as tears, inspirations, admonitions, suggestions, new strength, new brighter light, persons, insights, joy, peace, etc. When I was doubting my priestly vocation (whether to go ahead or not, whether to continue or not) I received not just encouragement, but concrete signs from above. I listened to a story and I was not able to stop my tears or sobbing for very long. I received a phone call from someone, and she said, “the Lord wants you to be a priest.” I met another person, a religious, and she said, “Why do you waver? Why are you not steady? Don’t doubt, go ahead.”

We need to be in touch with ourselves and with reality in order not to miss these beautiful moments. We need to be on our knees and not give up on prayer in order to catch hold of the burning-bush moments in our lives.

God is more intimate than we are intimate to ourselves. God is the only one who is absolutely real. He is more real than what I touch, and see, and feel. God is the one who is in charge of our lives and our histories.

We need only to believe!