Horeb Is Sinai

Seeing how one mountain goes by two names

06/12/2020

1 Kings 19:9A, 11-16 At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the LORD came to him, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.” A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD— but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake— but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire— but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

It is said that a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. That suggests that the sweetness of a rose comes not from its name, but from its nature; from what is it, not what it is called. Now, could the same be said of a mountain? That is, could a mountain by any other name be still as sacred, sort of sweet with God’s glory, we might say. Well, that is precisely what you find when you pay close attention reading the Sacred Scriptures with Mt. Sinai and Mt. Horeb.

Throughout the Old Testament there is one mountain that goes by two names but always refers to the same mountain, and it is the mountain of God, where the Old Testament saints always smelled the sweetness of God’s glory. Maybe that’s why so many people today are fascinated with mountain climbing and even scaling rock walls like Spiderman, like our seminarian, Ben Riley loves to do. They, too, want to ascend a mountain to meet God and to smell the sweetness of his glory.

In the first reading from 1 Kings 19, we read about this sacred, sweet mountain: “At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter.” And what transpires atop Mt. Horeb? Elijah meets God. We continue reading: “The word of the Lord came to him ‘Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord: the Lord will be passing by.” Elijah encounters the Lord in a “tiny whispering sound,” a small sweet sound. A little earlier in 1 Kings we learn it took Elijah a journey of forty days to arrive at Mt. Horeb, just like it took Moses and the Israelites forty days to arrive at Mt. Sinai, after crossing the Red Sea.

You might recall it was on Mt. Horeb that Moses met God in the burning bush in Exodus 3:1-6. Almost 1800 years later, St. Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine, ordered a church should be built to commemorate the site of the burning bush on Mt. Sinai/Mt. Horeb. In other words, the saints have always smelled the sweetness of God on mountains, regardless of their names. The mountain of God, like a rose, smells the same, thanks to its nature, not its name.

My friends, where do we find the mountain of God today, so that we too can enjoy the sweet fragrance of God’s grace? We do not have to trudge forty days and forty nights to Mt. Horeb/Mt. Sinai. WE find the mountain of the Lord right here at the Mass. How is that? Well, remember where Jesus was crucified: on a mountain top, on Golgotha, a peak on Mt. Moriah. I’ll never forget Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s dramatic description of the sacrifice of the Mass. He said it’s as if an unseen hand tore the tree of the Cross of Christ out of the ground of Golgotha, carried it across time, and transplanted it on every altar around the world: in Tokyo, in London, in New York, in Fort Smith. (Yes, he actually said Fort Smith.)

You and I are mystically present, therefore, on Mt. Moriah at the foot of the cross with Mary and John beholding the sweet love of Jesus. Every Mass is the spiritual equivalent of a mountain climb to the top of Mt. Moriah, also known as Mt. Zion (two names, same sweetness!), where the saints still smell the sweetness of God’s glory, like Moses, Elijah and St. Helen. We travel to Mt. Moriah at every Mass, or rather the sacred Mountain of God comes to us.

The modern fascination with mountain climbing and scaling rock walls is really a very ancient fascination: the desire to come close to God. You and I can enjoy the exhilaration of a spiritual mountain climb every morning when we come to Mass. That is why Hebrews 12:22 reads: “You have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering.” And there is no rose on earth that smells as sweet as that.

Praised be Jesus Christ!