Thursday of the 4th week in Lent
Theme: The love of God
The 1st reading from the book of Exodus shows us the depth of God’s love for his people. He knew the people have deviated from the ways of God and sent Moses to them. His desire was not to destroy his people; otherwise he would have done it without sending Moses to the people. It is also God’s love for his people that made him to listen to the intercession of Moses for the people of Israel. He listened to the appeal of Moses on behalf of the people and he forgave them their sins and no longer carries out his threat to destroy the people.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, the action of Moses is worthy of emulation. He stood on the gap for the people of Israel and begged for the mercy of God. Not minding the fact that God has assured him that he will not be affected and will be blessed. With such a promise, some of us would have been comfortable and allow God to do whatever he wanted with the people. But not Moses, he was more concerned about the good of all. We are all encouraged to do all within our power to always put the bigger picture in perspective in any given situation that we find ourselves, just like Moses did with the people of Israel. Sometimes we have to learn to go beyond the self and look at the good of others. By so doing we attract the blessings of God to both ourselves and other people.
Another thing that is worthy of note, is the power of intercession. In today’s 1st reading, the people did not have the privilege of relating directly with God, but God was relating directly with one of them, and reached out to the people through the help of Moses. In the same way, we can reach out to God through the intercessions of our Mother Mary and the saints. We can also reach out to God through the intercessions of our brothers and sisters. There is power in intercessory prayer for all those who have faith in it and practice it in their life. May God grant us the grace to always look out for the general good in all that we do. Peace be with you.