Bittersweet

If all Israel was a “kingdom of priests”, why do we have a ministerial priesthood in the Catholic Church? Plus: A fun Q&A mailbag question about angels.

God is about to reveal his 10 Commandments to Moses on the holy Mountain. There is thunder, an earthquake, a dark cloud, and fire. A powerful trumpet blast. And all of these things reveal something about exactly who God is.

In the business world, they call it “key man risk”. If a CEO burns out or dies, the whole organization falls apart. That’s what’s happening with Moses: he’s trying to do the work of 10 men, and he’s falling into the devil’s trap of trying to be like God in all the wrong ways.

After plagues and battles, what a relief to see the camp of Israel as a quiet place of family, fellowship, and ordinary life! We, too, must find God in the middle of everyday life...or we’ll never find him at all.

Grumblers want to pass judgment on Moses and stone him to death. Speaking of rocks, God tells Moses to strike a rock. Water pours out for God’s people to drink. St Paul later said, “the rock was Christ”. But what does that mean? Let’s rock and roll!

Have you ever had the experience of failing a test and having to take it over again? In Exodus 17, we see that God sometimes has to “re-test” his children again and again, before they can graduate to the next stage of the spiritual life.

Cale shows how the manna given to the Israelites in Exodus foreshadows the new and far greater “manna” given by Jesus: the Eucharist.

The wilderness was like going to Oxford, Cambridge, or Harvard: a graduate education in the inner life. Test after test from God. This time? It’s hunger. God responds with the Manna and Quail. Will the Israelites learn the lesson that you can’t stockpile grace? It’s doled out daily, on demand, just in time...it’s the “Manna Mentality”.

The parched Israelites attempt to drink the desert waters at Marah, but they prove bitter and brackish. God gives a miraculous tree to make the bitter water sweet. Likewise, the Cross of Jesus Christ makes the bitterness of life endurable—and even sweet—as we share in his sufferings.

Women helped save Moses throughout his life, including his sister Miriam. In the same way, another Miriam—Mary—is there at the key moments of salvation wrought by the new Moses, Jesus Christ.