OUT OF EGYPT

“The world as we know it is passing away.” –1 Corinthians 7:31

The Israelites in the desert preferred the food of slavery rather than the food of freedom (Nm 11:5). It was apparently easier for God to get the Israelites physically out of Egypt than it was to get Egypt out of Israel, that is to detach the Israelites from their attachment to the benefits and foods they had while they were slaves in Egypt.

Is anything holding you bound so that you cannot follow God? Ask Him to break those chains and set you free. Ask Jesus for the grace of detachment required to be set free of any attachments to the material things, blessings, and pleasures of this world, both good and bad. Earth will pass away, but the Word of God will never pass (Mt 5:18).

Since “the world as we know it is passing away” (1 Cor 7:31), “now is the acceptable time” (2 Cor 6:2). The Lord invites us: “Come now, let us set things right” (Is 1:18). “Why delay, then?” (Acts 22:16) “You are not to spend what remains of your earthly life on human desires but on the will of God. Already you have devoted enough time to what the pagans enjoy” (1 Pt 4:2-3).

PRAYER: Father, may “our relation to this world [be] just like [that of Jesus]” (1 Jn 4:17).
PROMISE: “Blest shall you be when men hate you, when they ostracize you and insult you and proscribe your name as evil because of the Son of Man. On the day they do so, rejoice and exult, for your reward shall be great in heaven.” –Lk 6:22-23
PRAISE: St. Peter, the patron of the mission to slaves, truly imitated Christ. In Cartagena, Columbia, he sought out the African slave ships. In humility, he entered the infested holds to care for the sick and the dying.