Water From The Rock

 "But the people thirsted for water there and grumbled against Moses, 'Why did you make us leave Egypt to have us die of thirst with our children and our cattle?'

So, Moses cried to YAHWEH, 'What shall I do with the people?  They are almost ready to stone me!' YAHWEH said to Moses, 'Go ahead of the people and take with you the elders of Israel.  Take with you the staff with which you struck the Nile and go.  I will stand there before you on the rock at Horeb.  You will strike the rock and water will flow from it and the people will drink.'  Moses did this in the presence of the elders of Israel.

The place was called Massah and Meribah because of the complaints of the Israelites, who tested YAHWEH saying, 'Is YAHWEH with us or not?'" - Exodus 17:3-7 

(GOD puts Israel to the test in the dessert: For how long will these common people be willing to follow an uncommon destiny?  How far will their faith go?  Israel also tempts GOD, that is, they ask HIM for signs because they do not have total confidence in HIM.  They demand miracles: "If YOU are with us, show it, here and now."  

Scripture recalls this confrontation in the event of the water coming out of the rock.  Moses, too, was put to the test in this place; see the same event related in Numbers 20.

In later times, the Jewish tradition saw in this rock a figure of GOD, the fountain of life, who was present among HIS people; the miraculous rock which accompanied them in their wanderings [see 1 Corinthians 10:4].  GOD is the impenetrable Rock that retains its secret until it allows itself to be wounded and from its own wound life pours forth.  Let us understand that humankind, being sinful, loses real knowledge of GOD and for this reason cannot find HIM.  But GOD becomes weak in the person of JESUS who, on dying, reveals the secret of GOD's love and compassion for us.  The Gospel emphasizes that from the heart of JESUS, wounded by the lance, flowed forth blood and water, an image of the Holy Spirit [John 7:37 and 19:34].)

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Praise Of GOD's Love

 "Praise YAHWEH, my soul; all my being, praise HIS holy name!

Praise YAHWEH, my soul, and do not forget all HIS kindness; HE forgives all your sins and heals all your sickness; HE redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with love and compassion;

HE will not always scold nor will HE be angry forever.  HE does not treat us according to our sins, nor does HE punish us as we deserve.

As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is HIS love for those fearing HIM; as far as the east is from the west, so far does HE remove from us our sins.

- Psalm 103:1-2. 3-4. 9-10. 11-12

(When we think how great HE is, it is not to think how far away HE is, but how much HE loves us to come down to us.

Let us praise the LORD, together with everything created: in moments of joy, as well as in hours of sadness, both when we have strength or when we live in fragility.)

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GOD's Faithfulness To HIS Promise

 "Then HE sent a famine and ruined the crop that sustained the land; HE sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave;

his feet in shackles, his neck in irons; till what HE foretold came to pass, and YAHWEH's word proved HIM true.

The king sent for him; set him free; the ruler of the peoples released him.  He put him in charge of his household and made him ruler of all his possessions..."

- Psalm 105:16-17. 18-19. 20-21

(We are the people whom GOD has redeemed, but in redeeming us, GOD was keeping the promise which HE made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his seed.

When praying with this psalm, we can unite our history to the history of salvation and remember that, while the covenant is a mandate, it is also the Word of GOD and therefore it is an eternal and holy covenant.  If we are unfaithful, GOD is still faithful.)

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'I Can Want To Do What Is Right, But I Am Unable To Do It.' - St. Paul

 "Blessed is the man

who does not go where the wicked gather,

or stand in the way of sinners,

or sit where the scoffers sit!

Instead, he finds delight in the law of YAHWEH

and meditates day and night

on HIS commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook

producing its fruit in due season,

its leaves never withering.

Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked.

They are like chaff 

driven away by the wind.

For YAHWEH knows the way of the righteous

but cuts off the way of the wicked."

- Psalm 1:1-2. 3. 4. 6

(The psalmist was conscious of the mixture of good and bad in himself and in others around him.  As St. Paul said much later--and he spoke for everyone--'I can want to do what is right, but I am unable to do it' [Romans 7:18].  Aware of this tension in ourselves, we recite this psalm with a feeling of hypocrisy.  This is no proclamation of one's own virtue but a constant self-reminder that we all have a choice.  We may never reach the extremes either of virtue or of vice, but we are at every moment making for one or the other.  It is salutary to remind ourselves what the end of each road is.  It is better still to remember that we have a powerful companion along the virtuous road, but along the wicked one, we are alone.) 

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Confident Prayer In Distress

 "'...free me from the snare that they have set for me.  Indeed YOU are my protector.

Into YOUR hands I commend my spirit; YOU have redeemed me, O YAHWEH, faithful GOD.

I hear whispering among the crowd, rumors that frighten me from every side--their conspiracies, their schemes, their plot to take my life.

But I put my trust in YOU, O YAHWEH. I said: 'YOU are my GOD;'

my days are in YOUR hand.  Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, from those after my skin."

- Psalm 31:5-6. 14. 15-16

(This psalm has so many nuances and so many different perspectives that, whoever prays with it, can remain wherever he feels more comfortable.  At the end of the psalm, love prevails.

The psalmist appears to be in a state of desperation.  At times, we too can identify ourselves with such a situation.  However, he does not give up hope when he asks the LORD to, "Save me in YOUR love" in the very last words.  There also are prophetic words in this psalm as JESUS HIMSELF in Luke 23:46 utters the words, "Into YOUR hands I commend MY spirit."  JESUS once again shows us the way, even at the last hour.  Our hope and trust in the LORD can be restored by repeatedly praying with this psalm.)

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The Prophets Denounce A Social System Which Crushes The Lowly

 "'Hear the warning of YAHWEH,

rulers of Sodom

Listen to the word of GOD,

people of Gomorrah.'

'Wash and make yourselves clean.

Remove from MY sight

the evil of your deeds.

Put an end to your wickedness

and learn to do good.

Seek justice and keep in line the abusers;

give the fatherless their rights 

and defend the widow.'

'Come,' says YAHWEH,

'let us reason together.

Though your sins be like scarlet,

they will be white as snow;

though they be as crimson red,

they will be white as wool.

If you will obey ME,

you will eat the goods of the earth;

but if you resist and rebel,

the sword will eat you instead.'

Truly YAHWEH has spoken."

- Isaiah 1:10. 16-20

(Give the fatherless their rights.  The Mosaic commandments condemned theft [Exodus 20:14].  The prophets denounce a social system which crushes the lowly.

Some people are fond of great ceremonies, others of their own devotions and prayers and still others, of doing generous and philanthropic works.  When doing this, we may be covering up the injustice we do every day.)

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Perfection For Us Consists In Imitating The FATHER

 "'Be merciful, just as your FATHER is merciful.

Don't be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over.  For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back.'" - Luke 6:36-38 

(Perfection for us consists in imitating the FATHER.  HE is GOD by being compassionate; HIS compassion is HIS ability to be touched by the poverty and the anguish of HIS creatures, and to lavish upon them what HE can give.  The attitude of the person who judges his brothers and sisters is the very opposite of mercy.

JESUS speaks of the way in which GOD already leads us in the present life.  A rationalist culture has often convinced us that GOD lets the laws of nature and humankind go their own way while HE remains a passive spectator, but the kingdom of GOD is the presence of GOD HIMSELF who even today has liberty to reverse all situations, even if for that purpose HE has HIS own time.)

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The Sound Doctrine

 "Follow the pattern of the sound doctrine which you have heard from me, concerning faith, and love in CHRIST JESUS.  Keep this precious deposit, with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives within us." - 2 Timothy 1:13-14 

(The doctrine of the faith cannot be altered, but neither can it be put in storage.  It must be lived, which brings into play our creativity as well as that of the Holy Spirit that lets it be rediscovered each day.)

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Do Not Break Your Oath; An Oath Sworn To The LORD Must Be Kept

"You have also heard that people were told in the past: Do not break your oath; an oath sworn to the LORD must be kept.  But I tell you this: do not take oaths.  Do not swear by the heavens, for they are GOD's throne; nor by the earth, because it is HIS footstool; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great king.  Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.  Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes' and your 'No' mean 'No.'  Anything else you say comes from the evil one." - Matthew 5:33-37 

(Do not take oaths.  This sentence must not be understood: "You shall never take an oath", but: "In a general way, don't take oaths."

Many invoke the name of GOD on any occasion.  Is it because they truly know HIM and have HIM in mind?  If we use HIS name casually, it is because we do not experience the weight of HIS presence.  What a lack of respect to call on GOD to testify to our sincerity when we do not even recognize all that is false and unclean within us! 

Anything else you say comes from the devil, and even the preoccupation of defending and justifying oneself in the eyes of others.  See also Matthew 23:16; James 5:12.)

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If The Sinner Turns From His Sin, He Will Live

 "If the sinner turns from his sin, observes MY decrees and practices what is right and just, he will live; he will not die.  None of the sins he committed will be charged against him; he will live, as consequence of his righteous deeds.  Do I want the death of the sinner? -- word of YAHWEH.  Do I not, rather, want him to turn from his ways and live?

But if the righteous man turns away from what is good, and commits sins as the wicked do, will he live?  His righteous deeds will no longer be credited to him; but he will die, because of his infidelity and his sins.

But you say: YAHWEH's way is not just!  Why, Israel!  Is MY position wrong?  Is it not rather that yours is wrong?  If the righteous man turns from his righteous deeds, and sins, then he dies, because of his sins.  And if the wicked man does what is good and right, after turning from the sins he committed, he will save his life.  He will live and not die, because he has opened his eyes; and turned from the sins he had committed." - Ezekiel 18:21-28 

(Everyone will have time to decide freely.  If people are evil and then decide to do good.  GOD will wait for their conversion and will take their last orientation into account.

In later times, wise people do not receive their punishment, nor good people their reward in this life [see Job 21]; it will become obvious to them that GOD's justice will be achieved in the next life.)

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