"Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenent in his hand, Moses did not know the skin of his face shone becaude he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai" (Ex 34:28-32).

This is the experience that Moses, chosen by God to guide the people of God in the Old Testament, had. Moses spent forty nights and forty days in the presence of God and was filled with his power. His face revealed this fact. Aaron and the Israelite nation could not look on Moses' face that shone like the sun. They could only stand in fear and trembling before this divine radiance. Moses called them to him with love because the difference on Moses' face was known to those who saw him before he became aware of it. "Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed" (Ps 34:5). This word of God became meaningful in Moses' life. Every individual who meets God becomes engulfed in God's light.

Paradise was the gift given to man by God. It had everything to satisfy him. Adam and Eve could hear the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze of (cf Gen 3:8). They, who lived looking at the face of God, were filled with joy. Satan who realised this, cleverly appeared before them in the form of a serpent. Thus they looked away from the face of God and looked on the face of Satan and listened to his word. On that day they lost Paradise.

Even today Satan comes to us in different forms and he comes in various ways through alcoholism, drugs, smoking, filthy films, unhealthy company, the passion for posion and fame, greed for wealth and so on. When man lived looking at God's face, Adam addressed Eve as, "Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh" (Gen 3:23). But when he looked at Satan he, who had looked upon her as his own body, rejected her (cf Gen 3:12).

The reason why man becomes uneasy and sorrowful is that he fails to look at God's face and instead looks at the world and all its problems. Satan is always trying to tempt those who live looking at God and turn them away from him. "Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour" (1 Pet 5:8).

In the Old Testament, we find Job was one who looked at God in the midst of trials and tribulations. Job was "blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil" (Job 1:1). Satan afflicted him with troubles in order to turn his gaze away from the face of God. All his seven sons and three daughters were smashed to death during a banquet at his brother's house when the roof collapsed in a gale. When Job heard this news he looked at God and received his light instead of looking at his dead children. He lost all his flocks, cattle and camels.

He lost all his wealth. Yet he did not turn his gaze away. In the end, even when his whole body was covered with sores and became an open wound and his wife rejected him, Job said, "After my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another" (Job 19:26,27).

Job's life teaches us that God gives great inner strength to those who work towards the face of God. Even when we feel God has forsaken us we need to keep looking at his face. He will then protect us. God did not forsake Job who looked at him in the midst of sorrow.

DANIEL AND THE THREE YOUNG MEN WHO LOOKED AT GOD

There are certain passages in the book of Daniel which are very significant. Once Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, made a huge statue and issuead a decree that it should be worshipped. But the Jewish youths, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow before it or worship it. The enraged king ordered them to be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. Even those who lifted the three men were scorched to death. But the youths did not look at the fire but looked at God's face. At once an angel of the Lord came down into the furnace and cooled the interior of the furnace. "The fire did not touch them at all and caused them no pain or distress" (Dan 3:50) because they looked at the divine face.

When king Darius threw Daniel onto the den of lions, the young man kept looking at God and not at the roaring lions rushing to devour him. "No kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God" (Dan 6:23). Those who look at God's face become radiant. They are protected by him. Comforted, they become victorious "Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed" (Ps 34:5).

Abraham was one chosen by God. God gave him a son, Issac, in his old age and asked him back when the boy was twelve years old. With no remonstrance Abraham got his donkey ready and set out on the journey. On the way the boy had a question to ask: "Father, where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham's heart was torn to pieces. He pressed his son to his bosom, looked at God's face and answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering" (Gen 22:8). As Abraham believed, so it happened. Abraham's life is an example for many even today.

When we look at God's face and receive his light we lead others to God's light.

I am reminded about the young man Shaji, who came for a retreat at Potta. Though he had no special liking for prayer, eight days of constant gazing at God's face and listening to his word changed him so drastically that he made a firm decision to live for God alone. Back home he began taking the lead for family prayers. This led to a miraculous change of heart in the neighbouring family who were at enmity with Shaji's family. The light that he received flowed into them. One day they came to invite him to lead the prayer in their house. Thus they were reconciled. "He has made groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall" (Eph 2:14). When St Augustine received God's light, numourous people came into God's light and grace. When the Samaritan woman received Jesus, her townsfolk became radiant with God's light (cf Jn 8:12). "The night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light" (Rom 13:12). "For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true" (Eph 5:8-9).

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