Tag: Moses

The Power of Christ’s blood

March 25, 2016 / MSFriend / 0 Comments

St. John Chrysostom

The following is taken from today’s Divine Office. It is the second reading of the Office of Readings from the Catecheses by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop. Too good to pass up!

If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. Sacrifice a lamb without blemish, commanded Moses, and sprinkle its blood on your doors. If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possible save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ.

If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced the side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it.

There flowed from his side water and blood. Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolized baptism and the holy eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit, and from the holy eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh! As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death.

Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life.

Responsory

The price of your redemption was not something of fleeting value like gold or silver, but the costly shedding of the blood of Christ, the lamb without blemish.

Through him, in the one Spirit, we can approach the Father.

May God continue to bless you as you journey through the Triduum into Easter, may it be a time of great spiritual renewal, growth and grace!

Stop and smell the roses!

February 18, 2016 / MSFriend / 1 Comment

Stop and smell the roses!

Stop and smell the roses! On Saturday February 13, 2016, I began my morning in prayer as I usually do. First, the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office). I downloaded the Divine Office “app” to my phone so instead of reading it, I use it as a meditation. I plug my headphones in and close my eyes to listen as the prayers are read. As I listened, Exodus 3:1-20 was read. Verses 1-3 spoke to me: Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father in law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There an angel of the Lord appeared to him in fire, flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight and see why the bush is not burned.” This last sentence made my heart skip a beat. A true “aha” moment because the remarkable sight Moses stopped to look at was God communicating with him – through that I realized that all the remarkable sights I have experienced in my life were God speaking to me. Most recently, the hummingbird feeding out of the palm of my hand (Hummingbird), the cedar waxwings gathering material for a nest, the great horned owl perched atop a tree in my front yard, the vegetables growing in my garden, the sap of sugar maples pouring into buckets hanging off their trunks – all these things and more, which I’ve had the privilege of witnessing are God speaking to me. I’ve had the privilege because as busy as I get I make time to just be and savor the beauty of God’s creation. It certainly takes practice to put things on hold knowing that they’ll still be there tomorrow, but there will ALWAYS be something to do tomorrow. Nothing is ever really finished! So why not take time today to nourish the soul?! This is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. We can learn so much from the remarkable sights God uses to speak to us. I, for one, have learned more about patience, persistence, perseverance, obedience and trust, just to name a few. Moses’ words made me realize that whatever I perceive to be remarkable I must “go over to look at” because it’s God’s way of getting my attention. It’s God’s way of telling me: “Hey you, look over here, stop and smell the roses!”

As I continued with my prayer on Saturday, I moved on to another app pray as you go (hey, if you’re going to give in to the latest technology, you might as well use it for good!) – there I listened and meditated on the Gospel of Luke 4:1-13 which talks about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. The message of Exodus couldn’t be any clearer in this Gospel. After reading the passage, the narrator of the app posed an interesting question: does it surprise you that Jesus was tempted in such a way? Couldn’t he have carried out his mission in a more spectacular way? He goes on to say: Jesus seems to believe His father wants Him to work in quieter, more hidden ways. Think of ways Jesus is working in your life – is He present there with noise and spectacle or is He working in more discreet ways, ways that may often be overlooked by the unobservant.

Two different readings with a similar message: Jesus, in his constant humility, chooses to reveal Himself to us in subtle yet powerful ways. Don’t miss out simply because you have “things to do.” Whenever you come across something that grabs your attention, that moves you heart and soul, don’t ignore it, don’t overlook it – be observant and allow God to speak to you through the remarkable, as he did with Moses. There’s a message waiting, a lesson to be learned in that “remarkable sight.” Go over to look! God bless you!