Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)
Psalm 147 : 12-13, 14-15, 19-20
Exalt the Lord, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.
He grants peace on your borders and feeds you with the finest grain. He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word.
It is He who tells Jacob His words, His laws, and decrees to Israel. This He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyr)
Psalm 76 : 12-13, 14-15, 16 and 21
I remember the deeds of the Lord; I recall His marvels of old. I meditate on all Your work, and consider Your mighty deeds.
Your way, o God, is most holy. Is there any god greater than You, our God? You alone are the God who works wonders, who has made known His power to the nations.
With power You have redeemed Your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. You led Your people as a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are reminded today, of our own weaknesses, of our own vulnerabilities, and the need for all of us to follow the will of our God, and follow the thinking of our God, trusting in Him fully with all our hearts, our minds, and all our beings, instead of trusting our own instincts and human emotions.
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Dominic, also known as St. Dominic de Guzman, a well known preacher who lived in the high Middle Ages Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth century Europe. He was the founder of the Dominican religious order, also known as the Order of Preacher. St. Dominic was well known for his strong devotion in the Lord, and his unshaken faith, in which he emphasized on the importance of having a strong and vibrant faith in God, as our armour, and put our trust in the Lord, instead of trusting in the power of men.
St. Dominic worked hard to spread the words of the Gospel, preaching to many people of God who had gone astray from the faith, and those in whom the flames of faith had died down. He had made much impact in strengthening the faith and zeal among the faithful at a time when heresies were commonplace in the Medieval Europe, particularly the Albigensian heresy or the Catharian heresy widespread in the Christendom at the time. Not only that, St. Dominic de Guzman was also well-known for being the one who propagated the devotion to the mother of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, through the Rosary.
St. Dominic and his successors in the Dominican religious order continued the spreading of the holy Rosary, as a potent tool and weapon which we can use, in our fight and constant struggle against the devil, as something that can help us anchor our faith firmly in the Lord, through the inspiration of the faith that His Blessed Mother has, that is the faith of Mary. The Dominican friars, monks, and priests continued until today the works and passions of St. Dominic, bringing more and more lost souls back to the embrace of the Lord who loves them.
Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is important for all of us to continue to have faith in our Lord and in His saving power. Not just any faith, but a strong and immovable faith like that of a rock, faith that will never be shaken by any power of the devil or the temptations of this world. If our faith in the Lord is not strong, the devil can easily sow the seeds of rebellion and distrust in our hearts, and that will make our faith even weaker and less anchored.
That was what happened to the people of Israel during their journey in the desert, when the Lord led them through Moses to walk through the desert of Sinai from Egypt towards the Promised Land of Canaan. Even though the Lord had shown them His power and might through the miracles He had shown them via Moses and Aaron, by the Ten Plagues He had sent to punish their former Egyptian slavemasters, and despite His opening of the Red Sea for them to cross, and finally, even giving them manna, the bread of heaven to eat, and sweet water to drink from rocks, they still rebelled against Him and constantly complained against Him throughout the journey.
They abandoned the Lord immediately after He made them walk through the Red Sea, when Moses went up the Mountain of God and did not come down for forty days, when they decided to take the matter on their own hands, and made a new ‘god’ of gold shaped into a calf, abandoning the Lord their God who had shown them their might, for the pagan idol of gold and the world. They did not have true faith in their heart, nor true love for God, but they merely have amazement, wonder, and even fear for the Lord, for all the things He had done for them, but that is not love or faith.
We must be strong and have our faith firmly rooted in the Lord, that we will not be tempted nor give in to our human weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Ever since our ancestors ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we have been exposed to such weaknesses, negative things such as lust, greed, wrath, anger, pride, and many others. These can derail us from the path towards salvation, that is the path for us to return to our Lord.
What happened to Moses and Peter in the first and the Gospel readings respectively are also examples of what can happen, even to those whose faith are firm and strong in the first place, if we do not keep our faith strong at all times and let it to waver or allow evil to dwell within us and plant his seeds of evil within us. Moses as the leader of the people of Israel and Peter as the leader of all the Apostles, the one to whom God entrusted all His people on earth to.
As the leader of the people, Moses certainly had a great responsibility, and his role as the one who speaks directly to the Lord God made his works even more demanding on him. When the people constantly complained and rebelled against his leadership and the Lord Himself, the strain went too much for him and indeed, at Massah and Meribah, as we heard from the reading today, Moses snapped. In his anger and wrath, he disobeyed the Lord in order to chastise the people. Yes, the Lord in His love still allowed the water to flow through the rocks for His people to drink, but Moses’ disobedience is something that he should not have done. As a result, he was not to enter the Promised Land together with the rebellious people, who had been punished for their lack of faith in the Lord.
Peter, the leader of the disciples of Jesus in his fear that the Lord would suffer and die under the Jewish authorities, rebuked Jesus in that he said that Jesus should not face His death and therefore complete what He was born into this world for. Peter gave in to his fear and uncertainty, and his faith was shaken. But the Lord rebuked Satan who was inside him, and rebuked the one who sowed the seeds of uncertainty in the heart of Peter, and reminded Peter as well, that one ought to put their full trust and attention to the Lord their God and not in the wisdom and power of men.
Yet, despite the apparent weakness of faith of Peter, and his later abandonment of the Lord in his three times denial that he knew Christ, Peter, who was Simon son of John has great faith in his heart, that the Lord who sees all knew about the true faith in Peter. That was why, He named Simon as Peter, which means ‘Rock’ or Cephas in the approximate Aramaic language used by the people of Jesus’ time.
That is because Peter truly is faithful to the Lord, and he truly loved Him, and he showed that in the end by giving up his own life for the sake of the Lord, as the martyr of the faith. He led the people of God in the Church faithfully and dutifully, ensuring that a stable foundation of God’s Church was built, and behold! The Church of God that He established on Peter as foundation remains today as our Church, with our current Pope Francis, as the successor of Peter as the head of the Universal Church.
We too, brothers and sisters in Christ, ought to strengthen our faith and our love for the Lord our God. There are many ways to do this, that our faith will blossom and grow together with our love, both for God and for our fellow men. Pray often, speak to the Lord our God through prayer, that we constantly remain in connection to His will and His words, that we do not easily fall astray of the true path to God.
And following the push by the Dominicans and their founder, St. Dominic, let us pray the rosary often with meaning and devotion, and not just merely chanting the prayers, but that we really mean the prayers in the rosary that we offer to the Blessed Virgin Mary, that she will then deliver our prayers to the throne of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, God and King of all the Universe, who will hear us, and succour us at all times.
May the Lord who is faithful and loving be with us always and give us His love and kindness, strengthening us whenever we are weak, and planting the seeds of faith in us, anchoring it on solid rock foundation, that we will withstand whatever assault Satan tries to make, and whatever temptations this world attempt on us, to lead us astray from salvation into damnation. Let us, inspired by the example of St. Dominic, reach out to one another and help one another in our devotion to the Lord, that all of us will be saved together. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Numbers 20 : 1-13
The whole congregation of Israel came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there.
Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered together against Moses and Aaron. They disputed with Moses saying, “Would that we had perished with our kinsmen in the presence of YHVH! Why have you led YHVH’s community to this desert to die here with our cattle? And why did you bring us out of Egypt to this wretched place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates and there is not even water for drinking.”
Moses and Aaron fled from the assembly to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and fell on their faces. Then the Glory of YHVH appeared and YHVH spoke to Moses, “Take your rod and assemble the community, you and Aaron, your brother. In their presence command the rock to give forth water and you will make water gush from the rock for the community and their livestock to drink.”
So Moses took the rod from before YHVH as he had been ordered. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock and said to them, “Listen, you rebels. Shall we bring water for you from this rock?” Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. And then water in abundance gushed out for the community and their livestock to drink.
But YHVH said to Moses and Aaron, “You did not trust Me nor treat Me as the Holy One in the sight of the Israelites; because of that you shall not lead this community into the land that I am giving you.”
It was at the waters of Meribah that the sons of Israel quarrelled with YHVH and where He showed His holiness to them.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Saints Xystus II and Companions); White (St. Cajetan)
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, the case of the Canaanite widow and her daughter, and how the daughter was healed by Christ our Lord because of her mother’s faith, should stir all of us, all of our hearts. That the woman had shown her great faith and trust in God, placing all of her heart and faith in the power and ability of our Lord, recognising Him as the heir of David, the awaited Messiah of Israel, the Saviour of the world.
Yes, brothers and sisters, the woman, the Canaanite woman, not of the chosen race and the chosen people of Israel, had recognised the Lord and put her entire heart and full faith in Him when so many other people of Israel had failed to do so. Not only that many of these people had failed to put their full attention and faith in the Lord, but they even complained against Him and grumbled against Him, when He had shown them so much love, compassion, care, and kindness.
So great is His love that He listened to their complaints, giving them food, the bread of heaven in the form of manna for them to eat in the morning, and quails for them to eat in the evening, as well as crystal-clear and sweet spring water from rocks for them to drink and satisfy themselves when they complained that they have not enough to eat or drink.
Yes, the Lord even promised them, as He had promised Abraham their forefather, the Promised Land of milk and honey, where the land is so rich that it will yield fruits manyfold and bring with them great riches for God’s people, that is Israel to enjoy for eternity. He fulfilled that promise and brought His people to the land that He had given to them and their descendants.
And yet, they still complained, and they did not truly love the Lord their God, nor did they give Him their full dedication and faith. When the explorers sent by Moses reached the Promised Land and saw the warlike peoples of Canaan living in the land, with giant men and powerful warlords, the people chose to follow their own human instincts and immersed themselves in their own human fear, that they again complained against the Lord for having brought them to that ‘dreaded’ Promised Land filled with enemies and prospects of death.
Despite all the good things that the Lord had given them and would have given them in perpetuity, for eternity, they rejected the kindness of the Lord, because they trusted themselves more, in human power and fear, and not in divine power of our God. And therefore, because of their rebelliousness, they deserved death. The Lord rejected them from His presence and denied them from entering the Land He promised them.
Then we can contrast this, to the widow, the widow who does not belong to the people of Israel, the Canaanite woman dismissed by many in Israel in Jesus’ time as pagans and people doomed to hell. Yet, she proclaimed the Lord and recognised in Him the salvation that is to come for her and the whole world. She asked humbly for His mercy and showed her faith to Him, even when Christ seemingly rebuked her and mentioned that He was only sent to the people of Israel. She answered well and proved her faith to God, and as a result, she received her due reward, the same reward promised to the people of Israel of old, but which they rejected because they trusted more in the power of man rather than in the power of the One and almighty God.
It does not mean that the people of Israel are bad or that they are rejected by God. Remember that Jesus Himself is a Jew, and He belongs to the House of David, because He is His heir, and the widow rightly proclaimed that He is the Son of David, the One to whom God will give eternal kingship, glory, and power over not just Israel, but over all mankind, over all the world. Instead, the readings today highlight that, first, we must be always faithful and trusting in the Lord our God, and we should be fast to praise and slow to complain.
It is our nature to feel that we do not have enough when we actually already have more than enough. It is part of our natural greed and desire for things and material goods. And it is also our nature to first think about ourselves and our needs before that of others, and we are quick to praise ourselves in general, whenever we achieve something, but it is generally considerably more difficult for us to give due thanks and praise to others, when they have done something that had benefited us in one way or another.
This happened to the people of Israel in the desert, that despite the freedom God had given them from the backbreaking and hard labour under slavery in Egypt, despite that He had showed them His might and power in opening the sea, giving them His own Laws and commandments, making sweet and crystal-clear water to gush out from rocks and even giving them food from His own table in heaven in the manna, they did not feel that they have enough, and indeed, complained that their previous life in Egypt had been much better, and even brought the Lord to the test, in doubting whether God could provide for them in their journey in the desert.
Yes, brethren, the path of the Lord is not an easy one, and there will certainly be numerous obstacles lying in our path if we choose to follow the Lord. The evil one certainly does not stay idle and let us, the followers of God, His disciples to just go free without any difficulties. This is why, it is often much easier and much more pleasurable for us, to settle on things that seem to be easier and more relaxed, even though to do that means that we sin against the Lord our God.
We cannot have this mentality, brothers and sisters in Christ, because to settle for such a thing would mean that we prefer the slavery under sin and Satan, instead of the freedom God had offered all of us through His suffering and death on the cross. Do not follow the path of the Israelites who chose to rebel against God and complained against His love and kindness. Our Lord knows what we truly need, brethren, and He will not leave us without love or care, because He always watches over us, at all times.
Today, brothers and sisters in Christ, we celebrate the feasts of Pope St. Xystus II or Sixtus II, as well as St. Cajetan. Both of them are holy and pious men dedicated to God in their own ways. Pope St. Xystus II lived in the middle era of the Roman Empire, and reigned as the leader of the Universal Church during the height of the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire in the middle of the third century. He reunited the divided factions of the people of God after healing the rifts that existed after heresies wrecked the faithful, and brought them back to God, once again as one people. He was martyred along with several of his companions following a brutal repression and persecution of the faithful by the Emperor Valerian.
St. Cajetan on the other hand was a priest who lived in the middle of the Renaissance Italy, during the sixteenth century. He helped much in the Church’s attempts to combat heresy of the Reformation which spread like wildfire during his lifetime. He dedicated much of his efforts and works to love and serve the poor, the lonely, and those without love, committing himself towards caring for all of them. He founded a religious order, the Theatines, which has a similar vision to him, that especially focus on the virtue of service and committing acts of love to others, as part of the faith.
Therefore brothers and sisters, today, let us be resolved to have the faith of the widow, to seek the Lord with great humility and persistence, and ask Him to show mercy and love upon us sinners. Let us not harden our hearts the way the people of Israel had done when they journeyed through the desert. Let us reflect on ourselves and our own weaknesses, and seek the Lord to enlist His aid, in helping us to overcome these weaknesses.
Let us also follow the example of Pope St. Xystus II in his commitment to the cause of the Lord, and the faith and love, as well as the dedication he had shown him, just as the widow had shown her faith to God, by her recognition of the good that the Lord had done for us. Let us also follow the example of St. Cajetan, in his own devotion to the Lord, which he showed through his love and service, and all the care he had given to all the children of God in need, in need for love, care, and compassion. In doing those things, St. Cajetan showed his love and faith in God. We too can do the same, brothers and sisters in Christ. Show Christ our love, just as He had shown us His love from the cross.
May the Lord bless us all with strength, faith, and perseverance to go on in our lives, no longer complaining but from now on putting our whole and complete trust in the Lord our God who loves us. May Pope St. Sixtus II and St. Cajetan, and all the company of saints and angels in heaven intercede on our behalf before the Lord who is loving and merciful, that He will forgive us our trespasses and deem us worthy of His presence and His kingdom once again. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Saints Xystus II and Companions); White (St. Cajetan)
Psalm 105 : 6-7a, 13-14, 21-22, 23
We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When they were in Egypt, our ancestors had no regard for Your wondrous deeds.
But soon they forgot His works and did not wait for His counsel. They gave way to wanton craving and tempted God in the desert.
They forgot their Saviour God, who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.
So He spoke of destroying them, but Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to shield them from destruction.
Liturgical Colour : White
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a great feast in the Church, that is the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ, when our Lord is transformed into His true divine nature on top of the mountain, and seen by the disciples Peter, James, and John, together with Moses and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets of God.
Yes, Christ our Lord and Saviour is indeed our God and divine in His nature, and He, through His birth by our Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother, is also human in nature, the Word of God made flesh and man by the power of the Holy Spirit that reside within the womb of Mary. He is in His nature, fully and completely divine as well as fully and completely human at the same time, separate yet one, one in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yes, our Lord is human, and He has human emotions as well, the love and compassion He has for all of us. He was overwhelmed with sorrow when Lazarus, His beloved friend died and when He witnessed the sorrow of his sisters, Martha and Mary. He showed compassion to the people gathered to listen to His sermons and speeches when they were hungry and without food. He showed compassion and love to the widows and people with afflictions and showed to all of them His great love.
Yet He is also fully divine, the Son of God, who revealed the fullness of His glory to the three of His disciples on the mountain, an occasion which we celebrate today as the Transfiguration. He revealed the truth about Himself and the truth about His power and glory to the three disciples, showing that He is not a mere human, neither is He merely another of the prophets, nor is He merely a liar. Yes, He is the divine Son of God, the Word of God made flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit, and through the Blessed Virgin Mary, was made man, fully human, as the Son of Man.
Then, what is the significance of Moses and Elijah appearing to Jesus on the mountain during His Transfiguration and speaking to Him about His death? The significance is that Jesus is the perfect embodiment of what Moses and Elijah each had embodied, as the greatest of the servants the Lord had sent into this world. Moses embodied the Law of God, the commandments and precepts He had given to His people to follow, while Elijah embodied the teaching authority of the prophets granted by the Lord. Jesus, as the Word of God made flesh is the greatest of all the prophets, delivering directly God’s will and message to mankind, and He also perfectly fulfilled all the prophecies the prophets had told about Him, the awaited Messiah, the awaited Saviour of all men.
In Jesus Christ lie our salvation, the perfection of the Law God had granted us, that is the commandments of love, through His explanation and His revelation on the truth about God and His laws, as well as the fulfillment of the prophecies and the teachings of the prophets in all its perfection. All of these, through His birth, His life, His works and ministries, and finally completed with His suffering and death on the cross, that cross on Calvary, and all are completed, just as He said “It is completed.” Yes, the completion of the grand plan on salvation God had prepared for all of us, that we can finally escape the slavery under sin, into freedom of eternal life in God.
However, to reach there, and to complete the plan, Christ had to bear our sins and our faults, as the sacrificial Lamb, the Lamb of God who bared Himself for us, in our place, and suffer instead of us. For we deserve to be punished severely for our sins, and not just any sins, but the persistence and the heaviness of our sins and evils that we have committed since the days of Adam and Eve our ancestors. Our Lord Jesus is without sin and pure, although He is indeed fully human like us, and yet He was made to bear our sins and our punishment in our place, that we will not suffer and experience death allotted to us for our rebelliousness, but instead have a new hope of eternal life and bliss.
He has to suffer, drink the cup of bitterness that God had given Him to drink, and die a prisoner’s death, a criminal’s death on the cross, judged by a Roman governor, condemned by His own people, scourged with lashes and crooks, and pierced by nails and elevated high between the heaven and the earth, all for our sake. Yet, He came down from that mountain where He showed His glory to His disciples, from the place where He manifested Himself as the great and glorious God, into His suffering and Passion, on the way to Jerusalem to die.
The disciples did not understand this, nor why did Christ do so, and what they wanted was that they remain in that wonderful place, in the fullness of the glory of God, that is because they have tasted heaven on earth on that mountain, and certainly they did not want to leave that feeling behind, that happiness and joy being in the glory and perfection of the Lord. That was why Peter suggested to Jesus to build three tents for Himself, for Moses, and for Elijah.
Christ could simply choose to stay there at the place for eternity, because indeed, He is God, and everything is within His power to do. He can remain forever in His great glory, and He did not have to face suffering, rejection, pain, and death. However, Christ knew what must be done, and despite the vast extent of suffering that He must go through in order to save us from our own destruction, His love for us is so great, that He is willing to go through all that, for our sake. He left His comfort zone, that He can exercise what He had come to this world for, that is to be our Saviour.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate today this great feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us take some time to reflect on ourselves, on our own actions and deeds. Have we overcome our fear of what is outside our comfort zone, and dared to take a step outside that comfort zone, so that we can make use of whatever gifts and talents God had given us, in order to bring love, comfort, and happiness to one another? Or have we chosen to be like the disciples, who prefer to remain in their comfort zone forever?
Brothers and sisters, to follow Christ means to take up our crosses and follow Him, through difficulties and oppositions that will surely face us in this uphill battle we have to reach our salvation in Christ. It does not mean that we should all suffer or die the same way that Christ had suffered or died for our sake, but certainly it means that it will not be easy either. We have to go the extra mile brothers and sisters, in our service and dedication to the people of God, especially those who are poor, in material and in spirit, and those who lack love in them, those who are unloved and forsaken.
Just as Christ chose to go down from the mountain and face His suffering to come proudly and courageously, we too should follow the example Christ had given us, going down that mountain, and gladly make ourselves available to others, sharing our love with them, bearing one another’s crosses on the way to God and His salvation. Let us be courageous to go an extra mile, stepping outside our comfort zone in our service to God and His people.
Do not fear, brothers and sisters in Christ! For the Lord Transfigured on the mountain and glorified in His might will always be with us, and He will bless us tremendously if we follow in His footsteps, carrying our crosses, in our journey, sharing the love and the Spirit He had given to all of us who have faith in Him with one another. May the Lord Jesus Transfigured bless all of us and our endeavours, and remain with us forever. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 9 : 28-36
About eight days after Jesus had said all this, He took Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain to pray. And while He was praying, the aspect of His face was changed, and His clothing became dazzling white. Two men were talking with Jesus : Moses and Elijah. Appearing in the glory of heaven, Moses and Elijah spoke to Jesus about His departure from this life, which was to take place in Jerusalem.
Peter and his companions had fallen asleep; but they awoke suddenly, and they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. As Moses and Elijah were about to leave, Peter – not knowing what to say – said to Jesus, “Master, how good it is for us to be here! Let us make three tents, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
And no sooner had he spoken, than a cloud appeared and covered them; and the disciples were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then these words came from the cloud, “This is My Son, My Beloved, listen to Him.” And after the voice had spoken, Jesus was there alone. The disciples kept this to themselves at the time, telling no one of anything they had seen.
1. For all of us. May the Lord who revealed His glory and majesty to His disciples in the wondrous Transfiguration, also reveals to us the greatness of His glory, the depth of His love and compassion, as well as the infinite wonders of His mercy. May He continue to bless us with His blessings and grace as we, His children, journeyed through this world of fear and darkness, that we will be brave, and not satisfied just being within our zones of comfort, but dare to step out and make a difference in the life of others.
2. For the victims of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, especially those of Hiroshima, who suffered ever since the bomb was detonated on Hiroshima, on this very day, 68 years ago. May the Lord comfort them and remain with them, and may He heal them from their afflictions through His infinite love and mercy. May He grant them perseverance and strength, and also understanding to those around them, that they will not ostracise them because of what had happened to them, but instead embrace them with love, as brothers and sisters, children of the same God.
3. For our late Pope Paul VI, the Venerable Pope Paul VI, who died on this day 35 years ago, on 6 August 1978, on this Feast of the Transfiguration. May the Transfigured Christ welcome him and be with him in the eternal bliss of heaven that is his reward. We thank the Lord for Venerable Pope Paul VI and his hard work for the sake of God’s Church and God’s people. We pray that he will also soon be elevated to the Altar, as one of the holy saints of the Lord.
We ask these prayers and petitions, in the Most Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Transfigured Lord and God, who is fully divine, yet fully human, and He who had delivered us from death through His own death on the cross, and His glorious resurrection. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Mass of the Dedication of a Basilica)
Numbers 11 : 4b-15
“Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish we ate without cost in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and garlic. Now our appetite is gone; there is nothing to look at, nothing but manna.”
Now the manna was like coriander seed and had the appearance of bedellium. The people went about gathering it up and then ground it between millstones or pounded it in a mortar. They boiled it in a pot and made cakes with it which tasted like cakes made with oil. As soon as dew fell at night in the camp, the manna came with it.
Moses heard the people crying, family by family at the entrance to their tent and YHVH became very angry. This displeased Moses. Then Moses said to YHVH, “Why have You treated Your servant so badly? Is it because You do not love me that You burdened me with this people? Did I conceive all these people and did I give them birth?
And now You want me to carry them in my bosom as a nurse carries an infant, to the land You promised on oath to their fathers? Where would I get meat for all these people, when they cry to me saying : ‘Give us meat that we may eat?’ I cannot, myself alone, carry all these people; the burden is too heavy for me. Kill me rather than treat me like this, I beg of You, if You look kindly on me, and let me not see Your anger.”
Alternative Reading (From the Mass for the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major)
Revelations 21 : 1-5a
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away and no longer was there any sea. I saw the new Jerusalem, the holy city coming down from God, out of heaven, adorned as a bride prepared for her husband. A loud voice came from the throne, “Here is the dwelling of God among mortals : He will pitch His tent among them and they will be His people; He will be God-with-them.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death or mourning, crying out or pain, for the world that was has passed away.” The One seated on the throne said, “See, I make all things new.”
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 