July 18, 2013

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Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time 
Lectionary: 392

Reading 1EX 3:13-20

Moses, hearing the voice of the LORD from the burning bush, said to him,

“When I go to the children of Israel and say to them,

‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’

if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”

Moses felt unqualified to lead the people of Israel.  So, he asked God what he should tell them if they object

God replied, “I am who am.”

Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel:

I AM sent me to you.”

God told him to reveal His name to them.  God's name is very interesting.  It reveals that God is all things.  God is all existence.  His name, I AM WHO AM means that God is all being.  Therefore, in another place, Scripture says:

Acts 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the children of Israel:

The LORD, the God of your fathers,

the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,

has sent me to you.

“This is my name forever;

this my title for all generations.

Furthermore, God said, "I am the one who spoke to your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

“Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and tell them: 

The LORD, the God of your fathers,

the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

has appeared to me and said:

I am concerned about you

and about the way you are being treated in Egypt;

so I have decided to lead you up out of the misery of Egypt

into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, 

Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,

a land flowing with milk and honey.

And so, tell them that I am taking you out of Egypt where you are being mistreated and will give you the land of milk and honey which now belongs to other people.

“Thus they will heed your message. 

Then you and the elders of Israel

shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him:

“The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent us word.

Permit us, then, to go a three-days’ journey in the desert,

that we may offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God.

So, tell the King of Egypt to let you go and worship your own God in the desert.

“Yet I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go

unless he is forced.

I will stretch out my hand, therefore,

and smite Egypt by doing all kinds of wondrous deeds there.

After that he will send you away.”

Yet, God knew that Pharaoh would not permit this unless he were forced to do it.

Responsorial PsalmPS 105:1 AND 5, 8-9, 24-25, 26-27

R. (8a) The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name;
make known among the nations his deeds.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations—
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He greatly increased his people
and made them stronger than their foes,
Whose hearts he changed, so that they hated his people,
and dealt deceitfully with his servants.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He sent Moses his servant;
Aaron, whom he had chosen.
They wrought his signs among them,
and wonders in the land of Ham.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.

The Lord is trustworthy.  He remembers all His promises to us and keeps them.  It is we who have always fallen away and broken the promises we make to God.

GospelMT 11:28-30

Jesus said:
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Jesus yoke is truly very easy.  It is no burden whatsoever.  When we turn to Christ, we find trouble frequently, because it is hard to throw off Satan's yoke.  But once it is off, the works of God are easy to do.