Friday, July 15 Scripture

Scripture: Lectionary # 393: Exodus 11:10-12,14. Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16,
17-18. Matthew 12:1-8:

We are listening to the instituting of the Passover Festival today in our
selection from Exodus. This is a most important historical and transcendent
event in the history of salvation. Jesus himself was very dedicated to this
festival and even as a boy we learn of his going with Mary and Joseph to
Jersualem for this festival. The when and the how of the festival is given
to us by God through Moses in this Exodus story. Each Jewish person today
celebrates it while taking himself or herself to Mount Sinai in order to be
present to what happened at Passover. Central to the celebration was the
sacrifice of an ublemished lamb. But also the great event that led the
Israelites to freedom and to the Land of Promise. Today the festival is a
family celebration and joy and peace are characteristic of the story told
in the homes of the Jewish people throughout the world.

As Christians we are deeply grateful for the way Jesus celebrated the
Passover and gave us the gift of the Eucharist where he himself is the
sacrificial lamb who takes away the sins of the world by his own Paschal
Mysteries (his life, sufferings, crucifixion, death, burial, and
resurrection and glorification). We recall this mystery and are united to
the Exodus story through the Mass said in our churches and chapels.

If we see our own Paschal Mystery in the light of Psalm 116 we enter into
the same frame of mind as the Israelites who certainly had this as a psalm
that speaks of the Passover. The cup of salvation recalls also the cups of
wine that are part of the festival ritual and for us it is the chalice
containing the precious sacramental blood of the lamb of God, Jesus. We
are liberated from our sins and in union with Jesus we enjoy the peace and
joy and love that Jesus had while here with us on earth and now in his
sacramental presence on the altar. We can easily join in the spirit of
this great psalm (which I used for my ordination holy card) and call upon
the name of the Lord. We do this both as individuals and as a community.
We pray, "To you, O God, will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will
call upon the name of the Lord. My vows to the Lord I will pay in the
presence of all his people." (Psalm 116:3,18).

We thank the Lord for the Exodus Event in salvation history and we realize
that we are able to understand Jesus' gift to us better by linking it to
what he celebrated on the night before he died--a Passover meal. (See I
Cor. 5:6-7).
It is a great way of thanking God for all the favors and graces God gives
to all of us each day. Amen.