Third Sunday of Easter April 14, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #16
“At the start of the book of Leviticus, the Lord speaks to Moses from the tent of meeting and instructs him to pass on to the people the laws to do with the key act of worship—sacrifice, or offering.”
(The Navarre Bible, Pentateuch, p.421)
Second Sunday of Easter April 7, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #15
“Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses, and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” (Numbers 21:6-9)
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord March 31, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #14
“However, after the twelve tribes of Israel left Egypt and made their covenant with God, the very first thing God did was command his people to build him one place of worship—the Tabernacle— in which the priests of Israel would worship God by means of sacrifice.”
(Brant Pitre, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, p.33)
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord March 24, 2024 Reflection #13 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist
“And the whole congregation of the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and said to them, ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’”
(Exodus 16:2-3)
“But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?’”
(Exodus 17:3)
Fifth Sunday of Lent (Passion Sunday) March 17, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #12
“And Moses called all the ancients of the children of Israel, and said to them: Go take a lamb by your families, and sacrifice the Phase (Passover Lamb). And dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the door, and sprinkle the transom of the door therewith, and both the door cheeks: let none of you go out of the door of his house till morning. For the Lord will pass through striking the Egyptians: and when he shall see the blood on the transom, and on both the posts, he will pass over the door of the house, and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and to hurt you. Thou shalt keep this thing as a law for thee and thy children for ever. And when you have entered into the land which the Lord will give you as he hath promised, you shall observe these ceremonies. And when your children shall say to you: What is the meaning of this service? You shall say to them: It is the victim of the passage of the Lord, when he passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, striking the Egyptians, and saving our houses. And the people bowing themselves, adored. And the children of Israel going forth did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.”
(Exodus 12:21-28)
Fourth Sunday of Lent March 10, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #11
“And Moses called all the ancients of the children of Israel, and said to them: Go take a lamb by your families, and sacrifice the Phase (Passover Lamb). And dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the door, and sprinkle the transom of the door therewith, and both the door cheeks: let none of you go out of the door of his house till morning. For the Lord will pass through striking the Egyptians: and when he shall see the blood on the transom, and on both the posts, he will pass over the door of the house, and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and to hurt you. Thou shalt keep this thing as a law for thee and thy children for ever. And when you have entered into the land which the Lord will give you as he hath promised, you shall observe these ceremonies. And when your children shall say to you: What is the meaning of this service? You shall say to them: It is the victim of the passage of the Lord, when he passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, striking the Egyptians, and saving our houses. And the people bowing themselves, adored. And the children of Israel going forth did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.”
(Exodus 12:21-28)
Third Sunday of Lent March 3, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #10
“And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12).
“. . .and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:21)
Second Sunday of Lent February 25, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #9
“He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, ‘I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.’ He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’”
(Genesis 28:12-17)
First Sunday of Lent February 18, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #8
“After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here am I.’ He said, ‘Take your son, your only-begotten son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:1-2)
Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time February 11, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #7
“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.”
(Genesis 12:1-3)