13 July 2021 - Tuesday of the 15th week in Ordinary Time - Exodus 2:1-15

     These past several weeks, we heard stories from the book of Genesis in our first readings in daily mass, of the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants, of Abraham’s grandson Jacob founding the house of Israel with his sons, of Jacobs son Joseph bringing the rest of his family to Egypt.  This week we hear from the book of Exodus, continuing the story of the Jewish people in the land of Egypt.  Yesterday, the reading told of us the Egyptians feeling threatened by the strength and number of the Jewish people, with Pharaoh ordering the boys born to the Jewish households be thrown in the river and killed.  Today, we hear the story of Moses, of how he was rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in the Egyptian royal palace, but how he had gotten into trouble as an adult, with Moses fleeing to the land of Midian.   Moses is one of the leading figures in the history of the Jewish people.  Moses is a grown man at the time that he flees for his safety. In the 7th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen, enduring his trial, states that Moses was 40 years old when he fled Egypt to be with his kinfolk.   From this act of violence taken by Moses today, we know that Moses will lead the Hebrew people to liberation and to their promised land, that he will receive laws and commandments from God that the Hebrew people are to obey.   After Moses, there will be many different prophets called by God to bring God’s message to the people and to bring them to repentance.   We know that leading the people in the faith is never any easy task.  I see that close up with my work with Bishop Kopacz in the chancery office.  Our leaders need our prayers, our cooperation, and our allegiance.