Blasts from the past and future

In today’s readings we hear about some blasts from the past – as well as a blast in the future.

The blast in the future is described in today’s first reading (Isaiah4:2-6): “a blast of searing judgment.”

As frightful as this sounds, this “blast” is a blast of purification: purifying away filth and injury.

What follows this blast is a blast from Israel’s past: that after the blast of purification, the people of God will see again the presence of the Lord as the smoking cloud and the flaming fire, as they did in the days of Moses in the desert.

In today’s Gospel (Matthew 8:5-11), we hear the familiar account of the Centurion and that famous expression of unworthiness whose paraphrase is used at Mass: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof…”

God, who is eternal, is never old, and as finite human beings we can and will always experience “new” in our experience of God, yet God Eternal has also accompanied mankind throughout our linear history and “blasts from the past” help remind us of God’s constant companionship with us, his constant action among us throughout the millennia, and his love for us that never leaves or fails.