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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Please stayed tuned for a fresh new look to our blog. Coming your way soon. Thanks Management of Gift of Grace.

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
In Exodus 16:1-18, 35, the Israelites, free at last from the Egyptians, quickly begin to slip into despair. Lacking food, they complain to Moses. In response, God sends them the manna (bread) from heaven, which will sustain them throughout the 40 years that they will spend wandering in the desert before entering the Promised Land.
Free at last from the Egyptians, the Israelites quickly begin to slip into despair. Lacking food, they complain to Moses. In response, God sends them the manna (bread) from heaven, which will sustain them throughout the 40 years that they will spend wandering in the desert before entering the Promised Land.
The manna, of course, represents the true bread from heaven, the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. And just as the Promised Land represents heaven, the Israelites' time in the desert represents our struggles here on earth, where we are sustained by the Body of Christ.
Exodus 16:1-18, 35
And they set forward from Elim, and all the multitude of the children of Israel came into the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai: the fifteenth day of the second month, after they came out of the land of Egypt.
And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them: Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat over the flesh pots, and ate bread to the full. Why have you brought us into this desert, that you might destroy all the multitude with famine?
And the Lord said to Moses: Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you: let the people go forth, and gather what is sufficient for every day: that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law, or not. But the sixth day let them provide for to bring in: and let it be double to that they were wont to gather every day.
And Moses and Aaron said to the children of Israel: In the evening you shall know that the Lord hath brought you forth out of the land of Egypt: And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord: for he hath heard your murmuring against the Lord: but as for us, what are we, that you mutter against us? And Moses said: In the evening the Lord will give you flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full: for he hath heard your murmurings, with which you have murmured against him, for what are we? your murmuring is not against us, but against the Lord.
Moses also said to Aaron: Say to the whole congregation of the children of Israel: Come before the Lord: for he hath heard your murmuring. And when Aaron spoke to all the assembly of the children of Israel, they looked towards the wilderness: and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel: say to them: In the evening you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread: and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.
So it came to pass in the evening, that quails coming up, covered the camp: and in the morning, a dew lay round about the camp. And when it had covered the face of the earth, it appeared in the wilderness small, and as it were beaten with a pestle, like unto the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: Manhu! which signifieth: What is this! for they knew not what it was. And Moses said to them: This is the bread, which the Lord hath given you to eat.
This is the word, that the Lord hath commanded: Let every one gather of it as much as is enough to eat: a gomor for every man, according to the number of your souls that dwell in a tent, so shall you take of it.
And the children of Israel did so: and they gathered, one more, another less. And they measured by the measure of a gomor: neither had he more that had gathered more: nor did he find less that had provided less: but every one had gathered, according to what they were able to eat.
And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land: with this meat were they fed, until they reached the borders of the land of Chanaan.

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Monday, March 28, 2011

Monday of the Second Week of Lent
As Pharaoh's chariots and charioteers pursue the Israelites, Moses turns to the Lord for help in Exodus 14:10-31. The Lord orders him to stretch his hand out over the Red Sea, and the waters part. The Israelites pass through safely, but, when the Egyptians pursue them, Moses stretches his hand out again, and the waters return, drowning the Egyptians.
Exodus 14:10-31
And when Pharao drew near, the children of Israel, lifting up their eyes, saw the Egyptians behind them: and they feared exceedingly, and cried to the Lord. And they said to Moses: Perhaps there were no graves in Egypt, therefore thou hast brought us to die in the wilderness: why wouldst thou do this, to lead us out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we spoke to thee in Egypt, saying: Depart from us that we may serve the Egyptians? for it was much better to serve them, than to die in the wilderness. And Moses said to the people: Fear not: stand and see the great wonders of the Lord, which he will do this day: for the Egyptians, whom you see now, you shall see no more for ever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.
And the Lord said to Moses: Why criest thou to me? Speak to the children of Israel to go forward. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the heart of the Egyptians to pursue you: and I will be glorified in Pharao, and in all his host, and in his chariots, and in his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in his chariots and in his horsemen.
And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removing, went behind them: and together with him the pillar of the cloud, leaving the forepart, Stood behind, between the Egyptians' camp and the camp of Israel: and it was a dark cloud, and enlightening the night, so that they could not come at one another all the night.
And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided. And the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up: for the water was as a wall on their right hand and on their left.And the Egyptians pursuing went in after them, and all Pharao's horses, his chariots and horsemen through the midst of the sea, And now the morning watch was come, and behold the Lord looking upon the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, slew their host. And overthrew the wheels of the chariots, and they were carried into the deep. And the Egyptians said: Let us flee from Israel: for the Lord fighteth for them against us.
And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth they hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen. And when Moses had stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned at the first break of day to the former place: and as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them remain. But the children of Israel marched through the midst of the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and on the left:
And the Lord delivered Israel on that day out of the hands of the Egyptians. And they saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore, and the mighty hand that the Lord had used against them: and the people feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord, and Moses his servant.

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Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Expelled from Egypt after the Passover, the Israelites head toward the Red Sea in Exodus 12:37-49 and 13:11-16. The Lord orders Moses and Aaron to tell the Israelites that they must celebrate the Passover every year. Moreover, once they have come into the Promised Land, they must offer every firstborn son and animal to the Lord. While the animals will be sacrificed, the firstborn sons are redeemed through the sacrifice of an animal.
Expelled from Egypt after the Passover, the Israelites head toward the Red Sea. The Lord orders Moses and Aaron to tell the Israelites that they must celebrate the Passover every year. Moreover, once they have come into the Promised Land, they must offer every firstborn son and animal to the Lord. While the animals will be sacrificed, the firstborn sons are redeemed through the sacrifice of an animal.
After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph took Him to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice at the temple to redeem Him, as their firstborn. They kept the tradition that God ordered the Israelites to follow.
Exodus 12:37-49; 13:11-16
And the children of Israel set forward from Ramesse to Socoth, being about six hundred thousand men on foot, beside children. And a mixed multitude without number went up also with them, sheep and herds and beasts of divers kinds, exceeding many. And they baked the meal, which a little before they had brought out of Egypt, in dough: and they made earth cakes unleavened: for it could not be leavened, the Egyptians pressing them to depart, and not suffering them to make any stay: neither did they think of preparing any meat.
And the abode of the children of Israel that they made in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. Which being expired, the same day all the army of the Lord went forth out of the land of Egypt. This is the observable night of the Lord, when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: this night all the children of Israel must observe in their generations.
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the service of the Phase: No foreigner shall eat of it. But every bought servant shall be circumcised, and so shall eat. The stranger and the hireling shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten, neither shall you carry forth of the flesh thereof out of the house, neither shall you break a bone thereof. All the assembly of the children of Israel shall keep it. And if any stranger be willing to dwell among you, and to keep the Phase of the Lord, all his males shall first be circumcised, and then shall he celebrate it according to the manner: and he shall be as he that is born in the land: but if any man be uncircumcised, he shall not eat thereof. The same law shall be to him that is born in the land, and to the proselyte that sojourneth with you.
And when the Lord shall have brought thee into the land of the Chanaanite, as he swore to thee and thy fathers, and shall give it thee: Thou shalt set apart all that openeth the womb for the Lord, and all that is first brought forth of thy cattle: whatsoever thou shalt have of the male sex, thou shalt consecrate to the Lord. The firstborn of an ass thou shalt change for a sheep: and if thou do not redeem it, thou shalt kill it. And every firstborn of men thou shalt redeem with a price.
And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What is this? thou shalt answer him: With a strong hand did the Lord bring us forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For when Pharao was hardened, and would not let us go, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of beasts: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the womb of the male sex, and all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. And it shall be as a sign in thy hand, and as a thing hung between thy eyes, for a remembrance: because the Lord hath brought us forth out of Egypt by a strong hand.

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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Sunday of the Second Week of Lent
As the Israelites approach the Red Sea in Exodus 13:17-14:9, Pharaoh begins to regret letting them go. He sends his chariots and charioteers in pursuit—a decision that will end badly. Meanwhile, the Lord is traveling with the Israelites, appearing as a column of cloud by day and of fire by night.
Exodus 13:17-14:9
And when Pharao had sent out the people, the Lord led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines which is near: thinking lest perhaps they would repent, if they should see wars arise against them, and would return into Egypt. But he led them about by the way of the desert, which is by the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took Joseph's bones with him: because he had adjured the children of Israel, saying: God shall visit you, carry out my bones from hence with you.
And marching from Socoth they encamped in Etham in the utmost coasts of the wilderness.
And the Lord went before them to shew the way by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire: that he might be the guide of their journey at both times. There never failed the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before the people.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel: Let them turn and encamp over against Phihahiroth which is between Magdal and the sea over against Beelsephon: you shall encamp before it upon the sea. And Pharao will say of the children of Israel: They are straitened in the land, the desert hath shut them in. And I shall harden his heart, and he will pursue you: and I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in all his army: and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.
And they did so. And it was told the king of the Egyptians that the people was fled: and the heart of Pharao and of his servants was changed with regard to the people, and they said: What meant we to do, that we let Israel go from serving us? So he made ready his chariot, and took all his people with him. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots that were in Egypt: and the captains of the whole army. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel: but they were gone forth in a mighty hand. And when the Egyptians followed the steps of them who were gone before, they found them encamped at the sea side: all Pharao's horse and chariots, and the whole army were in Phihahiroth before Beelsephon

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Friday, March 25, 2011

Friday of the First Week of Lent
In Exodus 12:21-36, the Israelites have followed the Lord's command and celebrated the first Passover. The blood of the lamb has been applied to their door frames, and, seeing this, the Lord passes over their houses. Each firstborn of the Egyptians, however, is slain by the Lord. In despair, Pharaoh orders the Israelites to leave Egypt, and all of the Egyptians urge them on.
The Israelites have followed the Lord's command and celebrated the first Passover. The blood of the lamb has been applied to their door frames, and, seeing this, the Lord passes over their houses.
Each firstborn of the Egyptians, however, is slain by the Lord. In despair, Pharaoh orders the Israelites to leave Egypt, and all of the Egyptians urge them on.
The blood of the lamb foreshadows the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, shed for us on Good Friday, which ends our bondage to sin.
Exodus 12:21-36
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. 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.
And it came to pass at midnight, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharao, who sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive woman that was in the prison, and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharao arose in the night, and all his servants, and all Egypt: for there was not a house wherein there lay not one dead.
And Pharao calling Moses and Aaron, in the night, said: Arise and go forth from among my people, you and the children of Israel: go, sacrifice to the Lord as you say. Your sheep and herds take along with you, as you demanded, and departing, bless me.
And the Egyptians pressed the people to go forth out of the land speedily, saying: We shall all die. The people therefore took dough before it was leavened: and tying it in their cloaks, put it on their shoulders. And the children of Israel did as Moses had commanded: and they asked of the Egyptians vessels of silver and gold, and very much raiment. And the Lord gave favour to the people in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them: and they stripped the Egyptians.

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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Thursday of the First Week of Lent
In Exodus 12:1-20, Pharaoh's stubbornness has come to this: God is going to kill the firstborn of every household of Egypt. The Israelites, however, will be protected from harm, because they will have slaughtered a lamb and marked their doors with his blood. Seeing it, God will pass over their houses. This is the origin of the Passover.
Exodus 12:1-20
"And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall be to you the beginning of months: it shall be the first in the months of the year. Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and say to them:
"On the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb by their families and houses. But if the number be less than may suffice to eat the lamb, he shall take unto him his neighbour that joineth to his house, according to the number of souls which may be enough to eat the lamb. And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year: according to which rite also you shall take a kid. And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month: and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted at the fire, and unleavened bread with wild lettuce. You shall not eat thereof any thing raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted at the fire: you shall eat the head with the feet and entrails thereof. Neither shall there remain any thing of it until morning. If there be any thing left, you shall burn it with fire.
"And thus you shall eat it: you shall gird your reins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste: for it is the Phase (that is the Passage) of the Lord.
"And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall be: and I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you: and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt.
"And this day shall be for a memorial to you: and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord in your generations with an everlasting observance. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread: in the first day there shall be no leaven in your houses: whosoever shall eat any thing leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall perish out of Israel. The first day shall be holy and solemn, and the seventh day shall be kept with the like solemnity: you shall do no work in them, except those things that belong to eating.
"And you shall observe the feast of the unleavened bread: for in this same day I will bring forth your army out of the land of Egypt, and you shall keep this day in your generations by a perpetual observance. The first month, the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the same month in the evening. Seven days there shall not be found any leaven in your houses: he that shall eat leavened bread, his soul shall perish out of the assembly of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. You shall not eat any thing leavened: in all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread."

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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Wednesday of the First Week of Lent
In Exodus 10:21-11:10, Pharoah continues to refuse to let the Israelites go, so, for three days, God engulfs Egypt in darkness. The only light in the land is found with the Israelites themselves—a sign, because from Israel would come Jesus Christ, the light of the world.
Since Pharoah continued to refuse to let the Israelites go, for three days, the God engulfed Egypt in darkness. The only light in the land was found with the Israelites themselves—a sign, because from Israel would come Jesus Christ, the light of the world.
Exodus 10:21-11:10
"And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch out thy hand towards heaven: and may there be darkness upon the land of Egypt, so thick that it may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand towards heaven: and there came horrible darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. No man saw his brother, nor moved himself out of the place where he was: but wheresoever the children of Israel dwelt there was light.
"And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Go sacrifice to the Lord: let your sheep only, and herds remain; let your children go with you. Moses said: Thou shalt give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, to the Lord our God. All the flocks shall go with us: there shall not a hoof remain of them: for they are necessary for the service of the Lord our God: especially as we know not what must be offered, till we come to the very place.
"And the Lord hardened Pharao's heart, and he would not let them go. And Pharao said to Moses: Get thee from me, and beware thou see not my face any more: in what day soever thou shalt come in my sight, thou shalt die. Moses answered: So shall it be as thou hast spoken, I will not see thy face any more.
"And the Lord said to Moses: Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharao and Egypt, and after that he shall let you go and thrust you out. Therefore thou shalt tell all the people that every man ask of his friend, and every woman of her neighbour, vessels of silver, and of gold. And the Lord will give favour to his people in the sight of the Egyptians. And Moses was a very great man in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharao's servants, and of all the people.
"And he said: Thus said the Lord: At midnight I will enter into Egypt. And every firstborn in the land of the Egyptians shall die, from the firstborn of Pharao who sitteth on his throne, even to the first born of the handmaid that is at the mill, and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as neither hath been before, nor shall be hereafter. But with all the children of Israel there shall not a dog make the least noise, from man even to beast: that you may know how wonderful a difference the Lord maketh between the Egyptians and Israel. And all these thy servants shall come down to me, and shall worship me, saying: Go forth thou, and all the people that is under thee: after that we will go out. And he went out from Pharao exceeding angry.
But the Lord said to Moses: Pharao will not hear you, that many signs may be done in the land of Egypt. And Moses and Aaron did all the wonders that are written, before Pharao. And the Lord hardened Pharao's heart, neither did he let the children of Israel go out of his land."

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