We take up the Book of Exodus in our lectionary this week, following the Book of Genesis. The mystery of the Exodus is central to Judaism and Christianity.

Until the 17^th century, the common opinion was that the five books of the Pentateuch–Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy– were written by Moses to tell the story of Israel from its origins at the creation of the world till the entrance to the promised land of Canaan. Since then, scholars say that many hands created the Pentateuch– the Torah.

Rather than figuring out what hands they are, it might be better to keep the big picture before us. God creates the heavens and the earth (Genesis), he creates human beings, male and female. Then God says to Adam and Eve, “Increase and multiply and fill the earth.” “Let there be more of you, and take possession of the land I’ve created for you.”

Human beings, we know, resist God’s plan through sin, and so after Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the flood and the destruction of tower of Babel, God turns to Abraham and Sarah, a landless, childless couple, and God renews the promise made first to Adam and Eve­–many children and a land of their own. Through them, God will bless all the peoples of the earth and the earth itself.

Land and children. A fruitful land, a multitude of children. Those promises seem to elude Abraham and our ancestors as they go from place to place. When Jacob arrives in Egypt, the promises seem to come true. Egypt is an ideal land for children to flourish; Jacob’s descendants increase, they settle on good land and become a powerful, divisive group in Egyptian society.

But this isn’t the place, the Book of Exodus says, and so God commands Moses to lead them out through the desert. At Sinai God promises to be their God; they’ll have a law to guide them, bread to nourish them. It’s not an easy journey and they’re not an easy people, but God  guides them on their way.

Scholars today say Moses didn’t write the books of the Pentateuch as we have them.. The final compilation of earlier sources was made after the Jews lost their homeland and were driven into exile in Bablyon in the seventh century BC. The compilers wanted the exiles to know their history. They’re children of Abraham. The God of their ancestors was their God. There’s a law to guide them, bread to nourish them, a desert to go through. But, they will reach a fruitful land and have a multitude of children, eventually.

The commentary from the New American Bible claims the editor made a substantial change to the ancient narrative to emphasize that last point:

“The last chapter of the ancient narrative—Israel dwelling securely in its land—no longer held true. The story had to be reinterpreted, and the Priestly editor is often credited with doing so. A preface (Genesis 1) was added, emphasizing God’s intent that human beings continue in existence through their progeny and possess their own land. Good news, surely, to a devastated people wondering whether they would survive and repossess their ancestral land.

The ending of the old story was changed to depict Israel at the threshold of the promised land (the plains of Moab) rather than in it. Henceforth, Israel would be a people oriented toward the land rather than possessing it.

The revised ending could not be more suitable for Jews and Christians alike. Both peoples can imagine themselves on the threshold of the promised land, listening to the word of God in order to be able to enter it in the future. For Christians particularly, the Pentateuch portrays the pilgrim people waiting for the full realization of the kingdom of God.”

Thoughts to hold onto in a changing world and a changing church?

From Monday of the 15 week of the year to Wednesday of the 19th week of the year we read from the Book of Exodus to the Book of Deuteronomy. Besides offering a description of the history of Israel from the time of its departure from Egypt to the frontier of the Promised Land, the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy offer a biography of Moses, who dominates the events they describe.

The Book of Exodus begins with his birth, the Book of Deuteronomy ends with his death. He is a leader, lawgiver, intercessor and prophet for his people. 

In the gospels Jesus calls upon Moses as a witness to his life and ministry. Like him, Jesus takes on the plight of his people. He leads them to deliverance, he teaches them a way of life, he endures their murmuring and complaints, he feeds them bread in the wilderness, he pleads for their life and asks for death in their place.

As Moses brought life-giving water to his people, Jesus entered the Jordan to make it life-giving. Moses put up a brazen serpent to win pardon, Jesus became a saving sign nailed to a cross. 

As he began his journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus ascended a mountain where he was transfigured. Moses appeared with Elijah as witnesses to his mission as God’s Son. 

We usually put aside one day in the year to remember a saint. For 4 weeks this year we remember Moses, a friend of God and witness to Jesus Christ.

For this week’s homily, please watch the video below.

St. Benedict, brother of St. Scolastica, was born into a wealthy family in Nursia, Italy, in 480. He went to Rome to be educated at a time when invading barbarian tribes were creating panic in the city. Leaving Rome he withdrew to the village of Enfide in search of another way of learning,

About the year 500, Benedict went to the remote area of Subiaco, south of Rome, where he came under the influence of a monk named Romanus. Benedict became a monk himself and spent the next three years in a cave, living a life of prayer and solitude.

Others wished to join him and by 525 Benedict had established a number of monastic communities. In 529, Benedict, along with some followers went to Monte Cassino about 80 miles south of Rome and founded the great monastery that became a center of western monasticism. 

A wise spiritual leader and worker of miracles, Benedict is considered a key figure in the rise of European civilization because of his rule and the monastic foundations he inspired. As “schools of the Lord’s service,” his monastic communities became centers of learning and spirituality throughout Europe, and later in the Americas.

Pope Gregory the Great (540-612), in the turbulent years of the barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire, recognized the monastic ideal himself and saw monasticism as a way to spread the gospel and influence society. He saw Benedict as a new evangelist and monastic settlements new bridgeheads for evangelizing the world. In our own time Pope Paul VI named Benedict the patron of Europe. 

Benedict died at Monte Cassino March 21, 547.

“Whatever work you begin to do, ask God in earnest prayer to make it perfect…We are going to establish a school for the Lord’s service. Nothing harsh or burdensome will enter there, we hope… as we go forward in faith our hearts will expand, and we will run in the way of God’s commands with unspeakable joy.”  (Rule of St. Benedict) 

Monasticism, solitary or in community, is still a powerful force in the church. It began in Egypt and Syria among Christians discontented with a society that rejected their values. It continued through the centuries in various forms. We should study it today for the possibilities it offers for communities for today.

Our lectionary honors saints like Anthony of Egypt, Basil the Great, Martin of Tours, Boniface and Bernard who were engaged in the monastic life through the centuries. As we celebrate their feasts through the year they not only impart lessons from the past but also prospects for the church now.

Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men, 
for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.
Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man comes.”

A writer in the NYT  wrote a column awhile ago describing  her efforts towards daily mindfulness.  She ends the day asking if she said the right thing or did anything to advance her life; how did she manage this situation, how could she have done it better? It’s not an examination of conscience she engages in but a search for a more successful self. It’s all up to you.

Jesus describes life so differently in today’s gospel. You’re like sheep sent out among wolves, he says, and you’re not safe even in your own home. You’re ok, though. You’re not on a journey alone. “ Don’t worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” 

How different that is from trying to do it all yourself.

That’s not telling us to forget what we say or do or think. We shouldn’t live unexamined lives. Mindfulness is all right, as far as it goes. We’re also told to be as shrewd as serpents and as simple as doves. Yet, at the same time we’re sheep among wolves, we’re branches on the vine. We’re promised a wisdom and a voice stronger than our own.

We don’t have to do it all by ourselves. At the end of the day we’re not alone.

Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot
who betrayed Jesus.

In Matthew’s gospel read today,  Jesus calls twelve disciples– also called twelve apostles– because he has compassion for the crowds. They are like sheep without a shepherd,  a field waiting for the harvest.  His disciples will extend Jesus’ ministry of teaching and healing revealed in previous sections of the gospel. 

Matthew’s gospel consistently notes Jesus’ compassion for the crowds. As they flock to the mountain from everywhere, where they have been scattered and abandoned,  Jesus  teaches them. Matthew follows the Sermon on the Mount with ten stories of healing that Jesus performs as he descends from the mountain. They also reveal his compassion for them.

As he calls twelve to follow him, teaching and healing,  does he not also call them to be compassionate as he was?

We should not limit the call of Jesus to teach and to heal to the twelve named in our gospel today. The twelve represent the twelve tribes of Israel who are called as a holy people to follow  God as his covenanted people. In the call of the twelve disciples we hear our own call.

Some like Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, will have positions of leadership among his followers, but all his disciples have gifts from teaching and healing. 

What are the gifts we have? Another question. Have we compassion for the world we live in?

July 9th the Passionists honor Mary, the Mother of Jesus, under the title of Mother of Holy Hope. The devotion was promoted by the great missionary, Father Thomas Struzzieri, who later became a bishop. He carried a picture of our Mother of Holy Hope with him on missions, and we honor the same picture as a reminder that Mary helps us in our needs.

 Mary supports our hope. Here’s what Blessed Dominic Barberi, CP wrote:

 “One title that belongs rightly to Mary is that of Mother of Holy Hope.  Hope is that virtue that anchors the ship of our soul in the stormy sea of this troubled world. It is a comfort left to us after the fall of Adam, a support in our weakness encouraging us to practice all the virtues.

 Theologians say hope is a virtue planted in us by God enabling us to confidently expect eternal life and all that leads to it. Since Mary was hopeful to an heroic degree, she is appropriately called Mother of Holy Hope.

Though endowed with extraordinary graces and unstained by original sin, Mary never counted on any resource of her own. Rather, she knew God is the author of every good thing and the source of everything. She confided in God fleeing from persecution from her own country. She hoped in God even when she saw her divine Son die on cross and his disciples left him.

She stayed firm in what seemed like disaster, and strengthened those discouraged who turned to her as to a mother. She encouraged the weak, lifted up the fallen and urged the strong to ever greater trust.

We must not think Mary is not our mother now.  No! Even now, enthroned in glory, she reaches with a mother’s hand to those who go to her. She is always a mother of holy hope.”

A global church celebrates saints from everywhere, and that’s why saints from Africa and Asia have been added to our church calendar after the Second Vatican Council. In them we see fulfilled the command of Jesus to his disciples to go “to all nations.” We are a Catholic Church.

On July 9th, we remember Saint Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs from the church in China, who were canonized in October 2000. On November 24th we remember Saint Andrew Dung– Lac and 117 other Vietnamese martyrs killed in the 18th century in a cruel persecution of Christians They were canonized by Pope John Paul II in  June 1988.  On September 20th, we remember the martyrs of Korea. Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs. All together, 103 martyrs were canonized by Pope John Paul II on 6 May 1984 in Seoul, Korea. 

These churches have remarkable histories. Take a look at the history of the church in China. 

The recent feasts of Asian churches celebrate, not only individual missionaries from elsewhere who brought the faith to these lands, but natives who accepted the gospel and died for their belief in it. The feasts recall centuries of missionary work that sowed the seeds of faith in these countries and the strong faith that blesses these churches now.

 As numbers decline in places like Europe and North America we should recognize the growth of our church elsewhere. “The harvest is great, “ Jesus told his first disciples. He tells us that today.  

In our cemetery here in Jamaica, New York, we have a monument to a young Chinese priest, Fr. John Nien, who died in the Communist persecution of the church in the 1950s and graves of Passionist missionaries who served in Hunan China during that time.  I put Fr. Nien’s monument at the beginning of this entry because he belongs among the martyrs of China. I put the graves and monuments to the Passionist missionaries below because they worked for a harvest that is now here and still to come.

God’s plan is mysterious, but the church will be blessed by the church in China.