Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord. PS 94:8
EXODUS 2:1-15
My Soul's Beloved,
God's plan for us will always be realized no matter what we do to evade it, escape it, ignore it, or pretend that we are ignorant of His purpose for our lives. Moses was chosen by God to lead His people from slavery to freedom, from exile to the promised land. The law commanded that all the Hebrew male children were to be put to death, but God ensured that this child should live, and he did. We often say it was a coincidence or happenstance when certain unforeseen things happen there is no such thing. It is God who ordains that His plans come to pass and ordains circumstances to ensure that it is so.
Moses, although he grew up in a palace, did not forget his origins. He recognized that he was a Hebrew and was aware of the terrible plight of his people. Having all the advantages of being brought up in the royal household, God ensured that he was well-equipped to carry out His designs for his life when the time arrived.
Moses had to run away from Egypt and from the crime of murder he committed. And this too was part of God's plan.
Beloved, You have a plan for all our lives, no matter where we try to hide or escape from it, it will be revealed to us, and You will provide the grace, strength, and courage to embrace it according to Your will. We cannot be happy in this life if we do not surrender wholeheartedly to You and Your will. Only in total and loving submission to You can we live lives of meaning and purpose. Help us, Lord, to submit to You gladly as You submitted to Your Father. Amen.
There was a man of the tribe of Levi who had taken a woman of Levi as his wife. She conceived and gave birth to a son and, seeing what a fine child he was, she kept him hidden for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him; coating it with bitumen and pitch, she put the child inside and laid it among the reeds at the river’s edge. His sister stood some distance away to see what would happen to him.
Now Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe in the river, and the girls attending her were walking along by the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket, and she sent her maid to fetch it. She opened it and looked, and saw a baby boy, crying; and she was sorry for him. ‘This is a child of one of the Hebrews,’ she said. Then the child’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and find you a nurse among the Hebrew women to suckle the child for you?’ ‘Yes, go,’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her; and the girl went off to find the baby’s own mother. To her the daughter of Pharaoh said, ‘Take this child away and suckle it for me. I will see you are paid.’ So the woman took the child and suckled it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter who treated him like a son; she named him Moses because, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’
Moses, a man by now, set out at this time to visit his countrymen, and he saw what a hard life they were having; and he saw an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, one of his countrymen. Looking round he could see no one in sight, so he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. On the following day he came back, and there were two Hebrews, fighting. He said to the man who was in the wrong, ‘What do you mean by hitting your fellow countryman?’ ‘And who appointed you,’ the man retorted, ‘to be prince over us, and judge? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Moses was frightened. ‘Clearly that business has come to light,’ he thought. When Pharaoh heard of the matter he would have killed Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and made for the land of Midian.
PSALM 68(69):3,14,30-31,33-34
Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive.
I have sunk into the mud of the deep
and there is no foothold.
I have entered the waters of the deep
and the waves overwhelm me.
This is my prayer to you,
my prayer for your favour.
In your great love, answer me, O God,
with your help that never fails.
As for me in my poverty and pain
let your help, O God, lift me up.
I will praise God’s name with a song;
I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
The poor when they see it will be glad
and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy
and does not spurn his servants in their chains.
There was a man of the tribe of Levi who had taken a woman of Levi as his wife. She conceived and gave birth to a son and, seeing what a fine child he was, she kept him hidden for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him; coating it with bitumen and pitch, she put the child inside and laid it among the reeds at the river’s edge. His sister stood some distance away to see what would happen to him.
Now Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe in the river, and the girls attending her were walking along by the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket, and she sent her maid to fetch it. She opened it and looked, and saw a baby boy, crying; and she was sorry for him. ‘This is a child of one of the Hebrews,’ she said. Then the child’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and find you a nurse among the Hebrew women to suckle the child for you?’ ‘Yes, go,’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her; and the girl went off to find the baby’s own mother. To her the daughter of Pharaoh said, ‘Take this child away and suckle it for me. I will see you are paid.’ So the woman took the child and suckled it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter who treated him like a son; she named him Moses because, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’
Moses, a man by now, set out at this time to visit his countrymen, and he saw what a hard life they were having; and he saw an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, one of his countrymen. Looking round he could see no one in sight, so he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. On the following day he came back, and there were two Hebrews, fighting. He said to the man who was in the wrong, ‘What do you mean by hitting your fellow countryman?’ ‘And who appointed you,’ the man retorted, ‘to be prince over us, and judge? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Moses was frightened. ‘Clearly that business has come to light,’ he thought. When Pharaoh heard of the matter he would have killed Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and made for the land of Midian.
PSALM 68(69):3,14,30-31,33-34
Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive.
I have sunk into the mud of the deep
and there is no foothold.
I have entered the waters of the deep
and the waves overwhelm me.
This is my prayer to you,
my prayer for your favour.
In your great love, answer me, O God,
with your help that never fails.
As for me in my poverty and pain
let your help, O God, lift me up.
I will praise God’s name with a song;
I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
The poor when they see it will be glad
and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy
and does not spurn his servants in their chains.
Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive.
MATTHEW 11:20-24
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
Concupiscence is the bane of our lives. The wound that original sin has left on our soul has weakened us too greatly that unless we throw ourselves on Your mercy and rely on Your strength, we cannot truly renounce the cravings of our flesh, the clamoring temptations of the world, and the wiles of the devil. All too often, we are quite aware that there is neither peace nor joy apart from You and a life of grace and holiness, but the siren call of the flesh gets the better of our best intentions.
The people witnessed the great miracles You performed, Lord, there could be no doubt in their minds that You came from God and were all that You claimed to be. No one but God could perform the works of healing and even raising from the dead. But to follow You as Your disciple came at a cost, and many of them were prepared to pretend that You were just a good and holy rabbi. In their hearts, they knew the truth, but they did not wish to give up their lives of comfort and ease for the narrow and difficult way.
It is not different for us in our day, Lord. The world has made great strides in presenting to us a life that makes us insensate to the divine and holy things. A life of renunciation and sacrifice. A life of submission to the will of God. So we live in a godless world, and we indulge every wicked and selfish whim at the cost of our eternal salvation and the salvation of others. The whole world conspires to keep us entertained, cutting us off not only from You but from one another. Each one of us is self-absorbed to the point where we are scarcely aware that we are alive and have been created for a life of love and communion with each other and ultimately for eternal life.
Only an earth-shaking event can wake us up from the deep sleep of indifference to God and to each other, can save us, Lord. Have pity on us now lest we damn ourselves to hell forever.
Jesus began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been worked, because they refused to repent.
‘Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard on Judgement day with Tyre and Sidon as with you. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted as high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell. For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom on Judgement day as with you.’
‘Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard on Judgement day with Tyre and Sidon as with you. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted as high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell. For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom on Judgement day as with you.’
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