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Moses brings down the Tablets of the Ten Commandments

Moses and the burning bush

The glory of God rested upon the 'Ark of the Covenant', a precious box surmounted by two cherubs, in which the tablets of the Commandments given by God to Moses were kept.

Moses and the burning bush

Moses brings down the Tablets of the Ten Commandments

Just as the people of God in Moses' time were led by a pillar of fire, a true contemplative today can be guided interiorly as if by a strong sweet fire. It teaches and consoles in just the way that Christ does.

Just as the people of God in Moses' time were led by a pillar of fire, a true contemplative today can be guided interiorly as if by a strong sweet fire. It teaches and consoles in just the way that Christ does.

Jesus is a Divine Person. Glory is His nature. The glory shining out from Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration was the very glory which shone - to a lesser degree - on the face of Moses. God wants to share that glory with us, through the sacrament of Baptism.

All the Saints in Heaven know what people right back to Moses have known, that God wants us to honour our mother and father. It is His Will that we know who our parents are, if possible. It is not His Will that people use immoral reproductive technologies.

Truly, when the priest has pronounced the words of Consecration, Jesus Christ is Present, in His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. This is Jesus, Who once appeared to Moses, in the burning bush, as fire.

When the Priest has pronounced the words of Consecration, and Jesus Christ is Sacramentally and substantially Present in His Blood and Blood, Soul and Divinity, we are very close to Our God and Saviour. Truly, this is Jesus, who once appeared to Moses, in the burning bush, as Fire.

When Moses was leader, he looked on as wicked men fell down to Hell, underground; the people were being shown in a physical way what happens in a spiritual manner to people who disobey God and act against His Will.

Just as Moses insisted that he wished all of God's people were prophets, so Christ insists that He wishes all of His friends in the Church were fervent in believing and defending the teachings of the Church.

In ancient times, when God gave the Commandments to Moses, God forbade the making of images. He was helping a primitive people to turn away from idolatry. But ever since the living, invisible God has revealed to the world His Son Jesus Christ, the 'living image' of the Father, Christians have rightly used imagery to inspire and educate fellow human beings.

On the heights of Sinai, God gave the truth to Moses, in the Ten Commandments. These showed out the truth about the purpose of life, and about the relations between men and women. These truths can never change. No wise theologian contradicts them to say that God's will need not reign supreme, or that men and women can make their union sterile not fruitful.

To be near the tabernacle, where Jesus Christ is substantially Present, hidden under the appearance of bread, is to be close to Christ's Divine Life and power. It is as if a fire burns, at the tabernacle, just as in the heart of the bush, as Moses looked on, long ago, when the Lord told him that where he stood was 'holy ground'.

In the whole history of our salvation, a corner was turned when Abraham was called to leave his homeland and to follow where God led him. Later, Moses too was obedient, and received the Ten Commandments - all as preparation for the time when God Himself would come to earth to make people holy, and to offer His life in Sacrifice.

What happens at Mass surpasses even those theophanies of the Old Testament times. God revealed Himself as fire in the burning bush, and on Mount Sinai, and in the desert, as Moses guided the chosen people. But we who are God's people today are privileged to have God Present with us: Jesus Christ, God-made-man, bodily Present, hidden under the form of bread and wine.

Faith is a gift from God, but it comes when people who have heard the story of God's action proclaimed, accept the grace to believe it. That story or proclamation is about God's plan of Salvation. It includes His gradual Revelation of Himself to Abraham, Moses, and others, and His Revelation in His Son, Jesus Christ, who is God-made-man, and who lived on earth, and died, and rose from the dead, to conquer sin and death, to save sinners.