Moses

The rebellion of Moses brought, in a sense, freedom to the people of God. Due to this event, Moses became aware of the injustices that the Egyptians were doing to his own people. When Moses saw this, it was like a breakdown in his life, he felt in his heart that he needed to do something, and he did. He killed the Egyptian that was beating up the Hebrew. After this Moses afraid of death, so he left Egypt and you know the rest of the story. Sometimes I think to my self, what would happened if Moses’ heart was not touch by that Hebrew that was getting beating up, I don’t know, but like throughout salvation history God had a plan for them, in this case for Moses. God did not allowed the heart of Moses to be changed by all the power of the pharaoh, instead He used that moment when the Hebrew was been bitten to change his heart to help his own people.

God wants to help us to get closer to Him, but we do not let Him, because all the distractions we have in our lives but like Moses, let us let God use every moment in our lives to change, to be a better persons.

Thoughts on Abraham

What I really appreciate from the story of Abraham is his trust in the Lord. When God told him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham did not think on not to do it not even a second, this demonstrates Abraham’s love, fear, and huge faith in the Lord. If someone comes to you and says, ok you are going to have to kill your son just because I ask for, you or I, would say NO without thinking about it, how can you kill your only son? But like Abraham let us take that leap of faith on God; to not be afraid to do what the Lord asks us to do. Lets us say always say yes to the Father who knows what is best for us, as we ask Abraham, our father in faith, for his intercession in heaven.

Confession in the book of Genesis

It really amazes me how God kind of showed us the sacrament of reconciliation even before the time of Jesus. Right at the creation of men, the book of Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve were expelled of paradise for disobeying God. After this Eve gave birth to a two children, Abel and Cain.
As Genesis 4-2-5 tells us: Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Cain was very angry with his brother because God liked Abel’s offering more than his own, and was therefore partial to him. Now, look how Abel gave God some of his best portions of the flock while Cain gave just enough to pass the “task”. Notice how sometimes we are like Cain with God, giving Him just enough instead of giving Him EVERYTHING we have and are.

Now the book keeps telling us in chapter 6: Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

I specially like this verse because it is really true how often we are ruled by our vices -- vices that make us fall away from Him. For example, not going to mass because we prefer to sleep in or simply because we are too lazy to walk or take the bus to church. God is telling us, “I know you are weak, but if you master those vises and transform them into virtues and practice them, you will not have to suffer of despair or be absent from ME.”

Notice how the story starts with them (Abel and Cain) working and offering sacrifices to God. In other words, worship Him, then due to a vise Cain did not do it the way he was supposed to, like his brother, so the story goes on in chapter 8: Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Look at how Cain, out of the vice of despair and envy, ended up killing his own brother. Now God comes and says to Cain in chapter 9: Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
It is OBVIOUS that God knew what happened to Abel, but here is the key: God wanted Cain to CONFESS his sin by simply saying, “Yes God, I killed my brother out of envy, can you please forgive me?” And God in his infinite mercy would say, “Yes.” But he did not say that. Knowing that God can see everything, he denied and said: Am I my brother’s keeper? YES you are your brother’s keeper, you should always be taking care of him, and because of this as we all know, Cain was taking away from the land.

Now, not like Cain, let us confess to God that we are sinners and ask Him for forgiveness. Let us fight our own weaknesses and vices, and transform them into virtues. Let us keep our eye on our brothers and sisters and watch for them as they watch for us. In that way, we can grow closer in our relationship with God.

Thoughts on Prayer

As quoted in the CCC-2566 – “Man is in need of God”, Due to the sin of our first parents Adam and Eve, Man lost his perfect communion with God. As the world tells us that we don’t need God in our lives or like sometimes we hide from him, He in his infinite love for us as quoted in the Catechism, “calls each person to that mysterious encounter know as prayer”.
(CCC-2567)

Prayer is the “tool” that allows us to communicate with him, through prayer is how we ask God for his help and everything else, as quoted in the Catechism “prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good thing from God. (CCC-2590)

Prayer is use throughout salvation history. Noah, Abraham, Moses, all the Prophets used prayer to communicate to Him. There are many examples of prayer in the bible, but one that I like in particular is in the book of Exodus, Chapter 17, and verse 10…

“So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.”

homework in process