Liberation from Slavery to Oppressive Behaviors, that is from Sin

In today's first reading, Exodus 14: 21-15:1, we are given the story of the Israelites being freed from the oppression of the Egyptians.  God divides the waters of the sea, "with the water like a wall to their right and to their left," the Israelites are able to cross the sea on dry land.  Once safely across, God instructs Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea, "that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians."   None of them survive.  "When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore and beheld the great power that the Lord had shown against the Egyptians, they feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses."

This story is not only about the Israelites. It is about you and me, as well!  God also frees us from our oppressors: the oppression of selfishness, prejudice and hatred that holds us back from being a true disciple of Jesus.  It is about the ways, through baptism and the other sacraments that Jesus frees us from the oppressing blindness and deafness that deprives us of the ability to recognize Jesus in others and from hearing the voice of the Spirit guiding us to do good and avoid evil. 

The story of God freeing the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt is a precursor of Jesus freeing us from sin as He offered His life for our salvation and rose from the dead, death and sin having absolutely no power over Jesus.  In baptism we died with Christ and rose with Him to new life, a life in which we are empowered to live as brothers and sisters and mothers of Jesus, that is as persons doing what the Father wills of us (see today's gospel, Matthew 12: 46-50).

Fulfilling God's Purposes Here on Earth

Today's Scripture, Exodus 2: 1-15, presents the story of Moses' mother, a Levite woman, hiding her infant in reeds on the river bank. Pharaoh's daughter finds him and asked his mother, who is watching nearby, to nurse him. She does so and when the child grew returned him to Pharaoh's daughter.   Moses is raised an Egyptian.

One day, as an adult, Moses sees an Egyptian  striking one of his kinsman and kills him.  The next day, he sees two Hebrews fighting one another and one of them asks: Are you going to kill us, too. Moses realizes that his murder of an Egyptian is known and that Pharaoh is out to kill him. He flees to the land of Midian.

As we know from the rest of the story, Moses is called up from Midian to be God's instrument in freeing the Israelites from the Egyptians. That he murdered a man is no deterrent in God using him for his divine purposes. In Moses' case, he overcomes his fear of Pharaoh and follow God's plan.  Not easy, by any means!

You and I are no different from Moses. We, too, engage in behaviors that, perhaps, we believe make us unworthy of being an instrument in God's hands. Not true, however. Because the works we are to do, or the purposes for which God created us, are accomplished, literally, by the Spirit of God at work through us. The good that we accomplish in this life is not our doing, though we may take credit for the good we do, collecting accolades and awards as though we truly carried out God's will all by ourselves.

Lord, we ask for forgiveness and repent of the times that we usurp Your power, the credit and the glory that belongs to You.  You are God. We are mere creatures, Your children, put here on earth to give You glory and honor and praise.  We are here to learn of You, to see Your glory here on earth and to be Your servants!







 

Discernment: What we learn from King Herod!

Discernment:  Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents, those little boys two years and younger who Herod slaughtered in hopes of killing Jesus. Herod was a jealous, ambitious man, narcissistically pursuing power and control at other people’s expense.  Deceptively, he asked the Magi, on their return from worshiping the new born King, to let him know where to find him so he, too, could worship him. That was not his intent. He wanted Jesus killed so that his position of power and prestige would not be in jeopardy.  He would do whatever he needed to do to remove the threat!

Herod lacked discernment skills and thus, I believe, was blinded to the evil that had possessed his character.  Without reflecting upon his life, without developing an honest relationship with God, without seeking truth and being truthful, without being upright, Herod is easy prey to Satan’s deceptive ways. Herod would not, without reliance upon God, avoid the  evil into which Satan would lure him. 

To ward off the kind of evil that prompts us to achieve selfish, ambitious ends at any cost, and to ignore God's will,  we need to “grow strong in the Lord, with the strength of His power.  Put on the full armor of God so as to be able to resist the devil’s tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle,  but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens” (Eph. 6:  10-12).   That is why,” St. Paul tell us, “you must take up all God’s armor, or you will not be able to put up any resistance on the evil day, or stand your ground even though you exert yourselves to the full”  (Eph 6: 13). 

How, you ask?  St. Paul counsels us as follows:“So stand your ground, with truth a belt round your waist, and uprightness a breastplate, wearing for shoes on your feet the eagerness to spread the gospel of peace, and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to quench the burning arrows of the Evil One. And then you must take salvation as your helmet and the sword of the Spirit, that is, the word of God” (Ephesians 6: 10-17).