18 July 2017 - Tuesday of 15th week of Ordinary Time - Exodus 2:1-15a

       These past few weeks in our first readings during our daily masses,  we have been hearing the story of the people of Israel from the books of Genesis and Exodos: of their patriarch Abraham, of Abraham’s son Isaac, of Joseph and the relocation to Egypt, and now today we hear the beginning of the story of Moses.  

        One thing that struck me today was the remark that Moses was from a family of Levites. The Levites are one of the tribes of Israel.  Later, in the history of the people of Israel, the Levites will become the priestly caste with particular religious and political duties. In Egypt, the Levites were the only Tribe committed to God.  They would be the ones defending the Law of Moses against the worship of the Golden Calf in the desert.   And after the Temple is built in Jerusalem, the Levites will lead the singing of the psalms in the Temple service, they will be responsible for the construction and maintenance of the Temple, and they will serve as Temple guards. 

       As we hear in the Exodus story of Moses being born in a time of great danger and violence in Israel, we are reminded of how God chooses the weak and makes them strong, of how God works so many miracles in our lives, miracles both big and small.  “Turn to the Lord in your need and you will live” – we hear these words in our psalm today.  Like the meaning of these words in the psalm, there may be times in our lives when we feel like we are stuck in a swamp without a foothold, when we are in pain and are afflicted, when we see God as our only hope.  The psalm assures us that the Lord indeed hears the cries of the poor, that he does not spurn his people ensnared by oppression.  Like the followers of Christ throughout the ages, we put our trust in the Lord just as the psalmist does today.  We know that the Lord hears our cries, that through him, our struggles and our sufferings have meaning.  

       The poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized of the world often identify with the Exodus story, of how the people of Israel were liberated from God on so many different levels.  They were liberated socially, spiritually, politically, psychologically, and physically.  We can be enslaved by many different things in life in ways that we don’t even understand.  May Christ always be our liberator.