If you want to continue receiving homilettes by email, please send my your name and email address. Of course, if you have already done so, there is no need to repeat. I have been having difficulty adopting another mailing service. However, Google seems to be sending them out for the time being at least. Thank you for your readership.
Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Exodus 2:1-15a;
Matthew 11:20-24)
The Book of Exodus
might be called “the Book of Moses.” He
is the book’s central human figure.
Moses is not only a bigger-than-life personality; he is also a charismatic
leader. Today’s first reading indicates the
sources of his leadership basic qualities.
It might be said that
Moses has leadership in his genes. He is
the physical son of an unnamed Levite man and woman. Levi was one of two brothers who led the ten others
to take revenge on the Shechemites for raping their sister Dinah. But Moses was not foremost a violent
man. He was raised by his stepmother,
Pharoah’s daughter, who took compassion on the baby whom she found in the
river. She knew that he was one of the Hebrew
children condemned by her father. Moses
possessed, as well, a sense of justice and an inclination to act on it. When he saw the Egyptian overlord abuse the
Hebrew worker, he responded carefully and decisively. He was also inclined to find out the truth of
a situation. Finding two Hebrews
fighting, he investigated by asking questions.
Moses might write on
his CV that he came from ordinary but strong stock, that he possessed both
compassion and justice, and that he acted after ascertaining the truth. It is no wonder then why God chose and formed
him to lead His people. We should see in
him a prototype for Christ. Moses was a
man worthy of teaching us God’s Law, that is His gracious will for us.
