Deuteronomy 27-30

Moses gathers the people together to give his final words before they cross the Jordan into the land that God has promised them, the land of milk and honey. Moses powerfully lays before them the stark choice they have going forward: they may heed the voice of the Lord and observe His commandments, or they may turn away from Him and ignore His laws. The consequences of that choice are immense. God promises that obedience will result in many blessings for the Israelites and their descendants--victories, prosperity, and fruitfulness. Indeed, among the blessings promised are the words that will later be spoken of the Mother of Jesus: "Blessed be the fruit of your womb." But woe to Israel if they do not heed the commandments, statutes, and decrees, for the ramifications are dire: sickness, invasion, defeat, plagues, famine, and exile. The Lord will "scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other." The famine will be so great that fathers will eat heir children and mothers will consume newborn babies. This parade of horribles is truly frightening. I had a difficult time reading it all the way through. Yet God still leaves the door open for salvation. If at some point this suffering nation ponders these things in their hearts, and returns to the Lord and heeds His voice, He will have pity on them, gather them back together, and once again make them prosperous and numerous, as He once promised their fathers. He will again open their hearts so that they "may love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, and so may live." 

Here, God is terrifying. He is demanding and jealous. Yet in the end, He is merciful and patient. He waits (although not always patiently, Moses suggests) for us to turn back and come home to Him. This section ends with these powerful words from God regarding the choice He has put before the Israelites:

I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.  Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.

I love the image of "holding fast to him." Sometimes, I am afraid. I must learn to cling to him then especially.

Exodus 12-14:20

The Lord establishes a ritual that proves the salvation of the Israelites, as the spreading of the lamb's blood over their doors saved them from the tenth plague. Passover. "You must celebrate this day throughout your generations as a perpetual institution." The feast plays a central role in the Passion of Christ many generations later. The tenth plague is horrifying to me. So many of the Egyptians must have been good, innocent people--and yet this catastrophe befell them because their leader was obstinate and did not honor God's request. Losing a child seems incomprehensible to me. The wailing that broke out across Egypt echoes in Pharaoh's ears, as he summons Moses and Aaron and demands that they and the Israelites leave Egypt. And so they fled Egypt. "It is with a strong hand that the Lord brought you away." God does guide us with a strong hand--yet why is it that so often i cannot discern His Will anywhere? A paradox, I guess, at least for me. When Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues the Israelites to the edge of the Red Sea, the Israelites begin to grumble to Moses and Aaron. But Moses answers them, "Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the Lord will win for you today." I think God asks me to "fear not" often, and I should not be fearful because of the victory Jesus won for me.  

Exodus 8:16-11:10

The story of Moses continues with the remaining seven plagues brought on by Pharaoh's obstinate refusal to accede to God's request, communicated through Moses and Aaron, that the Israelites be allowed to leave Egypt to worship God. The pattern was so familiar from plague to plague that it started to get tiresome. Moses makes request; Pharaoh denies request;  Moses threatens plague; Pharaoh still denies request; plague comes; Pharaoh gives in; Moses ends plague; Pharaoh breaks promise. But then suddenly I saw myself in the Pharaoh. God shows me the way--through the Word, through the Church, through the love of those around me; I promise to walk more closely in the path He calls me to; I wander off or get distracted and forget my promise; I feel lost; rinse and repeat. It particularly hit home during the plague of darkness, when the Egyptians could see nothing, not even the people around them. Like me when I wander off from God and forget Him. Interesting that the darkness lasts three days, like the darkness the Earth was in when Jesus died and descended into Hell, before the Resurrection. By the way, isn't it a fascinating notion that Jesus descended into Hell? It is in the Apostle's Creed although not in the Nicene Creed that we recite at Mass. I am intrigued by that visit to Hell, by what it could have been like for Jesus, and what it was meant to accomplish. 

Exodus 5:10-8:15

Today I went with my wife to the Cloisters in New York City.  It is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a monastery building that was built in the 1930's based on elements of several medieval abbeys of Europe, and it is filled with beautiful medieval art, including altarpieces, triptychs, tapestries, reliquaries, etc.  

The Cloisters

But today's visit was to take in a performance of The Song of Daniel, a beautiful musical piece that I can only describe as part opera, part chant, part religious play. It dates back to somewhere in the late 13th or early 14th century, and seems to be an early ancestor of opera, as it is a drama, but completely sung. It recounts the story of Daniel in the lion's den, with a song stuck in the middle and another at the end celebrating the Nativity of Jesus.  It was wonderful, with music played on medieval instruments, and the singing was marvelous.  As for today's reading, we have an obstinate Pharaoh, doubting Israelite foremen, and a set of magicians who match Moses wonder-for-wonder until the plague of the gnats. After which those magicians tell Pharaoh that "this is finger of God." (Interestingly, it is the finger of God that writes on the wall in the story of Daniel that we saw today.)  I am struck by the conversations Moses has with God: they are numerous and Moses is constantly "protesting" to God about something God has instructed Moses to do. I find it curious and humorous, since God seems to have more patience with Moses than with others both before and after him. One last point, I spent some time in Venice with my family a few years ago, and we stayed very near Chiesa di San Moise (St. Moses Church). An Old Testament saint. Pretty cool.  












Chiesa di San Moise                                                        San Moise