Word to the Wise
Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - Tuesday in the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
[Exod 2:1-15a and Matt 11:20-24]Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her maids walked along the river bank. Noticing the basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to fetch it. Opening it, she looked, and lo, there was a baby boy crying! She was moved with pity for him and said, "It is one of the Hebrews' children." Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you." "Yes, do so," she answered. So the maiden went and called the child's own mother. .....When the child gew, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as her son and called him Moses; for she said, "I drew him out of the water." [Exodus]
JULY 15 ST. BONAVENTURE, bishop and doctor of the church
With the beginning of the Book of Exodus yesterday, we left behind the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the story of Joseph, which ends with the Israelites living in Egypt. With the story of Moses, we enter the realm of a more recorded history and the story of Israel under the leadership of Moses, who stands as a giant in the Bible. He, like Joseph, grew up in Pharaoh's house and enjoyed royal favor as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. But his murder of an abusive Egyptian led to his fall from favor and he fled to the desert where he will encounter a burning bush!
This epic narrative has tremendous power. The figure of Moses would be at the center of Jesus' conflict with the religious authorities of his time. The Gospel According to Matthew presents Jesus as a kind of "new Moses" inaugurating a new covenant and new Israel. The first scriptures for the next few days will be taking us through this epic narrative. We celebrate it particularly in Holy Week, especially at the Easter Vigil. But we also celebrate it with each Eucharist which recalls the Last Supper that occurred during Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea. Any understanding of the New Testament is incomplete without understanding Moses and his role in God's plan of salvation. AMEN
Comment on Reflection
<< Previous Date [Back to List] Next Date >>