Meditation from A Reader-Synchronicity

I love synchronicity...a reader sent me this a few minutes ago, and it is from Joshua's experience in the desert.

Deuteronomy 26:16  This day the LORD, your God, is commanding you to observe these statutes and ordinances. Be careful, then, to observe them with your whole heart and with your whole being. 

Deuteronomy 26:19 and he will set you high in praise and renown and glory above all nations he has made, and you will be a people holy to the LORD, your God, as he promised.

2 Corinthians 6:2b
Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Matthew 5:44-46 But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? 

Father,
You command us to follow Your laws,
What greater law is there then to love?
Love completely without reserve.
In our weakness we do not know the true meaning of love without You.
What is the Love taught by Your perfect Son?
Love, a burning desire from the depth of ones soul to submit completely to You, the triune God.
We can not truly love one another, including our enemies, until our soul, like the saints, is perfected like bright white diamond reflecting Your holy will. Perfected through the burning fire of Your infinite love for us.

Circumcision of The Heart

In today's Divine Office, one of the readings shows the renewal of the covenant God made with Abraham. Now, remember, the People of God had to endure slavery for years, and had to "get Egypt out of them" by wandering in the desert until they were pure of heart.

Those who grew up in slavery, except for Caleb and Joshua, did not enter the Promised Land.

To go from slavery of sin to purity of heart takes a long time, and a will to persevere. Most of the Hebrews on the way through Sinai kept falling back into sin, and the greatest sin, not trusting in Divine Providence. Even Moses sinned this sin by striking the rock three times instead of one.

When Moses renewed the covenant with the Hebrews in Sinai, he asked them to dedicate the first-born of their animals, as well as the first-born son, to God. The sign of this covenant was, and still is for the Jews, circumcision.

Circumcision supplanted first-child killing in the sacrifices to Moloch, to which I have referred on this blog before. Circumcision, the sign of the covenant, took the place of the common pagan custom of throwing one's first-born son into the fires of the demons of Canaan.

The pain of circumcision leaves after a relatively short time. But, the sign remains for the entire life of the male. God, through Moses, demanded a little suffering in dedication, and the people understood the difference. They were not to do human sacrifice.

Purity of heart begins with obedience and the will to follow God through the desert. This is from Lauds.

Isaiah 1:16-18

16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
    remove the evil of your doings
    from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17     learn to do good;
seek justice,
    rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
    plead for the widow.

18 Come now, let us argue it out,
    says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
    they shall become like wool.

May our Lenten walk be both a cry for purity and the willingness to go into the dry land searching for God alone. Here is today's Gospel.

Matthew 5:43-48

43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters,[a] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Some people do not want to embrace suffering. They do not want to face any suffering, either their own or another's. It is too hard to step out of one's comfort zone and be involved with other people. But, the People of God crossing Sinai were not alone, and carried each other along the way, from slavery to freedom.

To accept suffering is to allow one's self to enter into the Sinai experience.of another person.  This experience does not bring poetry into one's life, but hard work. Cooperating with grace may be more difficult for some of us than others.

I belong, as my readers know, to the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother, a third-order dedicated to praying for those who are in the worst type of slavery-demonic oppression, obsession and possession.

For those in these straits, life may seem like a desert experience, with rocks, heat, sand, long endless journeys which seem to lead to nowhere. They suffer daily and need prayers daily. One must be willing to enter into the desert with them and pray. This is what Our Lady did at the foot of the Cross. She entered into the suffering of her Son, and into our suffering. But, we all have freedom because of the suffering of Christ and Mary, our Co-Redemptorix. She took on herself suffering for the sake of her people, the Jews, and for the sake of all of us. Her walk to Calvary mirrors the walk to the Promised Land.

Remember it took the Israelites forty years to get to Mount Sinai, which normally would have taken forty days max for that many people to get to Sinai, and another 116 days to get to Gaza or so. One can see how the Wandering for forty years was God's Will and not the terrain. The total walking time could have been as short, without God's intervention of punishment and purification, of 156 days or so. Given the lack of modern roads, one could add another 20 days or so, and state that within 176 days of leaving Egypt, going to Sinai, and then to Gaza, the People of God could have been in the Promised Land in half a year. This suffering of these people was a really, long time. All died except for the chosen few who were pure of heart. God punished their sins with death, and with not being allowed to go into the new land prepared for them. Such is purgatory for us unless we circumcise our hearts.

From Joshua, Chapter One:

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, 2 ‘My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. 5 No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. 9 I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’

10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, 11 ‘Pass through the camp, and command the people: “Prepare your provisions; for in three days you are to cross over the Jordan, to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess.”’

12 To the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said,13 ‘Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, “The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest, and will give you this land.” 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan. But all the warriors among you shall cross over armed before your kindred and shall help them, 15 until theLord gives rest to your kindred as well as to you, and they too take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to your own land and take possession of it, the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan to the east.’

16 They answered Joshua: ‘All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses! 18 Whoever rebels against your orders and disobeys your words, whatever you command, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.’

Sin keeps us from moving quickly to the goal of holiness. Without God's grace, we would be stuck in Sinai. But, a purgatorial life on earth must be sought for perfection, and it is better to go through purgatory now rather than later, as one helps the Church more directly when one is purified. Joshua was given a particular grace for purity of heart. He allowed his heart to be circumcised.

Deuteronomy 30:6

6 Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.

Dark Night Posts Resuming

Well, it seems I cannot move away from this subject. And, I have amazed myself at all the Dark Night postings. I shall put SOME of the links in this post at the end.

Someone asked me if the Dark Night was marked by a feeling of spiritual emptiness.

Yes, yes, yes.

But, why?

St. John of the Cross gives us several reasons and I shall try and share a few points. Some of this is repetition.

Firstly, we are creatures who rely too much on our senses, even with regard to spiritual things. We crave consolations, and the stroking of our feelings and imaginations in prayer.  Without this purgation of the senses, the first part of the Dark Night, we shall not meet God as He really is.

We need to be separated from habits of self and relying on the senses. This means that God calls us into the desert, and a desert has few colors, few delights.

St. John writes this:

IT now remains to be said that, although this happy night brings darkness to the spirit, it does so only to give it light in everything; and that, although it humbles it and makes it miserable, it does so only to exalt it and to raise it up; and, although it impoverishes it and empties it of all natural affection and attachment, it does so only that it may enable it to stretch forward, divinely, and thus to have fruition and experience of all things, both above and below, yet to preserve its unrestricted liberty of spirit in them all. For just as the elements, in order that they may have a part in all natural entities and compounds, must have no particular colour, odour or taste, so as to be able to combine with all tastes odours and colours, just so must the spirit be simple, pure and detached from all kinds of natural affection, whether actual or habitual, to the end that it may be able freely to share in the breadth of spirit of the Divine Wisdom, wherein, through its purity, it has experience of all the sweetness of all things in a certain pre-eminently excellent way.144And without this purgation it will be wholly unable to feel or experience the satisfaction of all this abundance of spiritual sweetness. For one single affection remaining in the spirit, or one particular thing to which, actually or habitually, it clings, suffices to hinder it from feeling or experiencing or communicating the delicacy and intimate sweetness of the spirit of love, which contains within itself all sweetness to a most eminent degree.145

Remember the flesh pots of Egypt about which I have written here? These fleshpots, which were the memories of good food and comforts even under slavery, kept interfering with the minds and heart of the Israelites.

They were remembering sensual pleasures and comfort in the midst of the long walk around Sinai. This may seem normal to us, but remember also, that we cannot approach God with our imaginations and selves full of the ego and full of memory.

 The reason for this is that the affections, feelings and apprehensions of the perfect spirit, being Divine, are of another kind and of a very different order from those that are natural. They are pre-eminent, so that, in order both actually and habitually to possess the one, it is needful to expel and annihilate the other, as with two contrary things, which cannot exist together in one person. Therefore it is most fitting and necessary, if the soul is to pass to these great things, that this dark night of contemplation should first of all annihilate and undo it in its meannesses, bringing it into darkness, aridity, affliction and emptiness; for the light which is to be given to it is a Divine light of the highest kind, which transcends all natural light, and which by nature can find no place in the understanding.

Note that the Dark Night undoes sensual and spiritual bad habits, concupiscence and finally, even venial sin. 

The darkness, aridity, affliction and emptiness are all to be expected in the Dark Night.

Without this preparation, we are simply not holy enough to see God as He really is and to appreciate the opening up of the life of virtues which He wants to do in us.

To be continued...and more Dark Night posts.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/again-on-dark-night.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/dark-night-and-grace.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/on-rational-in-dark-night.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/more-on-dark-night-in-november.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/on-god-disciplining-his-people.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/on-desert-god.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/second-poem-revealing-dark-night.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/one-of-two-poems-revealing-dark-night.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/keeping-goal-in-mind-in-dark-night.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/on-dark-night-againseries-continued-on.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-is-detachment-from-venial-sin.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-dark-night-post.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/10/re-post-from-august-on-dark-night.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/10/dark-night-discussion.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-fear-of-being-loved-and-dark-night.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-strength-of-love-in-dark-night.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/10/purgatory-or-dark-night.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-end-of-beginning-of-dark-night-and.html

And, there are more....

Presumption Part Two: Reason

The glorious teaching of the Catholic Church shows us that we all have the gift of reason. The CCC is, again, a good place to start. As humans, we have free will and reason, two of the ways in which we have been created in the image and likeness of God.

II. WAYS OF COMING TO KNOW GOD
31 Created in God's image and called to know and love him, the person who seeks God discovers certain ways of coming to know him. These are also called proofs for the existence of God, not in the sense of proofs in the natural sciences, but rather in the sense of "converging and convincing arguments", which allow us to attain certainty about the truth. These "ways" of approaching God from creation have a twofold point of departure: the physical world, and the human person.
32 The world: starting from movement, becoming, contingency, and the world's order and beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God as the origin and the end of the universe.

As St. Paul says of the Gentiles: For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.⁷

And St. Augustine issues this challenge: Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky. . . question all these realities. All respond: "See, we are beautiful." Their beauty is a profession [confessio]. These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One [Pulcher] who is not subject to change?⁸

^{One of the huge problems is the lack of reflection among the young. When do they stop their stampede towards pleasure in order to think about life, God, the universe...as it were......}

33 The human person: with his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God's existence. In all this he discerns signs of his spiritual soul. The soul, the "seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material",⁹ can have its origin only in God.
34 The world, and man, attest that they contain within themselves neither their first principle nor their final end, but rather that they participate in Being itself, which alone is without origin or end. Thus, in different ways, man can come to know that there exists a reality which is the first cause and final end of all things, a reality "that everyone calls God".¹⁰
35 Man's faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God. But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man and to give him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith. The proofs of God's existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not opposed to reason.

Section 33 is important for this discussion. All humans have reason and therefore a sense of goodness and a conscience. Reason separates us from the other animals which only have instincts. 

One of the gravest false teachings of the day is the denial of reason. Reasonable people can come to know God and be open to more knowledge which God has given us in revelation.

Reason and revelation form our faith. Here is the CCC again.

III. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD ACCORDING TO THE CHURCH
36 "Our holy mother, the Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason."¹¹ Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God's revelation. Man has this capacity because he is created "in the image of God".¹²
37 In the historical conditions in which he finds himself, however, man experiences many difficulties in coming to know God by the light of reason alone:

Though human reason is, strictly speaking, truly capable by its own natural power and light of attaining to a true and certain knowledge of the one personal God, who watches over and controls the world by his providence, and of the natural law written in our hearts by the Creator; yet there are many obstacles which prevent reason from the effective and fruitful use of this inborn faculty. For the truths that concern the relations between God and man wholly transcend the visible order of things, and, if they are translated into human action and influence it, they call for self-surrender and abnegation. The human mind, in its turn, is hampered in the attaining of such truths, not only by the impact of the senses and the imagination, but also by disordered appetites which are the consequences of original sin. So it happens that men in such matters easily persuade themselves that what they would not like to be true is false or at least doubtful.¹³

38 This is why man stands in need of being enlightened by God's revelation, not only about those things that exceed his understanding, but also "about those religious and moral truths which of themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reason, so that even in the present condition of the human race, they can be known by all men with ease, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error". ¹⁴
IV. HOW CAN WE SPEAK ABOUT GOD?
39 In defending the ability of human reason to know God, the Church is expressing her confidence in the possibility of speaking about him to all men and with all men, and therefore of dialogue with other religions, with philosophy and science, as well as with unbelievers and atheists.
40 Since our knowledge of God is limited, our language about him is equally so. We can name God only by taking creatures as our starting point, and in accordance with our limited human ways of knowing and thinking.

41 All creatures bear a certain resemblance to God, most especially man, created in the image and likeness of God. The manifold perfections of creatures - their truth, their goodness, their beauty all reflect the infinite perfection of God. Consequently we can name God by taking his creatures" perfections as our starting point, "for from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator".¹⁵
42 God transcends all creatures. We must therefore continually purify our language of everything in it that is limited, image-bound or imperfect, if we are not to confuse our image of God--"the inexpressible, the incomprehensible, the invisible, the ungraspable"--with our human representations.¹⁶ Our human words always fall short of the mystery of God.
43 Admittedly, in speaking about God like this, our language is using human modes of expression; nevertheless it really does attain to God himself, though unable to express him in his infinite simplicity. Likewise, we must recall that "between Creator and creature no similitude can be expressed without implying an even greater dissimilitude";¹⁷ and that "concerning God, we cannot grasp what he is, but only what he is not, and how other beings stand in relation to him."<sup>18

I am convinced that young people choose and as the text highlighted above states, persuade themselves against reason to accept evil.

That children do not use reason at the age of adolescence is the fault of the parents and teachers, in this age of relativism. But, still, God gives grace to all and invites all to come to Him. 

Do we need revelation? Yes,and we need missionaries. But, reason can lead one to be open to the Gospel message.</sup> 

To deny reason and free will is heresy. Remember, Christ descended into hell, as stated in our creed, and released those who waited for His Redemption. Adam and Eve are the first who come to mind and we honor them as saints. 

Those in Judaism who accepted God's Law and revelation were also among those freed from hell. We call these men and women saints-Judith, Esther, Ruth, Joshua, Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, David, the prophets, the Maccabees, etc. 

They believed in the promise without the fullness of revelation. These were the righteous, being made so by faith. They believed in the revelation given to them. And, through the use of reason. 

Revelation and Reason--both God's gifts to us....

To be continued....

Why Was God So Hard On Moses?

One of the great questions coming out of a reading of Deuteronomy may be asking why God did not let Moses go into the Promised Land? After all, Moses was the great friend of God's, the holiest man alive, and a great leader of God's  People.

OK, so he struck the rock more than once...but was the sin merely impatience, or anger? Moses was instructed to speak to the rock and, instead, he hit it twice.

Some commentators say that Moses made himself equal to God by referring to "We" providing the water.

Some commentators state that it was because Moses was disobedient and did not follow God's directions exactly, which Moses obviously did not do.

I think it was impatience. Why is impatience such a serious sin?  Impatience is not trusting in God.

After all those years, of intimacy with God, something in Moses still did not trust God enough to wait, wait on the words spoken to the rock for water.

Anger is not trusting in God. Anger is playing God-"I want this, now!" A lack of trust is a lack of love. At that moment, Moses simply did not love God enough to trust in Him.

But, not to go into the Holy Land was a serious punishment.

Moses sinned in front of the entire people. His sin was not private, but public. He gave a bad example of one's relationship to God to the entire assembly of the tribes of Israel.

Moses was not perfect and this surprises us, as only the perfect see God. But, that is the analogy here. Moses, the Giver of the Law, did not enter the place of promise as he was not perfect.

Joshua and Caleb had pure hearts, as did those who were the children of the slaves of Egypt.

A new standard was necessary to enter, and conquer the Promised Land. That standard was purity of heart.

Even though Moses is one of the greatest men of the Old Testament, and represents the Law in the Transfiguration, as Elijah represents the Prophets, and Christ fulfilling the Law and the Prophets, still Moses sinned and was punished. His punishment, however, allowed him to be purified before death. How to we know that? Elijah did not die, but went up to heaven in the fiery chariot. Moses is said in all the commentaries to have died, but his state of perfection was such to allow him to be in heaven, so we see him in the glory of Christ in the Transfiguration. If Moses had been in Hades, in that upper chamber called the First Limbo, waiting for the Harrowing of Hell, he would not have appeared with Christ.

Only the pure enter heaven, and Moses' terrible punishment of not entering Canaan, made his heart pure.

May I add that in the Epistle of Jude, verse 9 notes that the Archangel Michael fought the devil over the body of Moses. This is a great line upon which to meditate and gives teeth to the idea that Moses, like Elijah, was in heaven body and soul.

9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you."

Wilderness Generation Two; Hope for The Future

For several weeks, I have been reading the Pentateuch, and meditating on the Hebrews long exile in the Wilderness.

I have commented on this here in what has become a popular post,

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/07/the-purification-of-generation-of.html,

but would like to add to that comment in light of things which are happening so fast around us in Europe.

The sins of the Hebrews coming out of Egypt are not subtle, but the interior disposition which causes those sins are. I use the present tense, as these sins, both external and internal, plague us today.

Firstly, the sins were murmuring or continual complaining, a sign of ungratefulness; idolatry, which exploded in the creation of the golden calf and the destruction of two entire clans, caused by lust and a lack of patience; envy of Moses; and cowardice, as only Joshua and Caleb and their families entered the Promised Land.

One can see that externally, these sins differ but there is an interior disposition which causes all-murmuring, idolatry, envy, lust and cowardice.

This is the sin of self-love. Self-love causes one to rebel, deeply, against God and human authority.

Self-love destroys peace and the worship due to God.

Self-love falls into sensuality over and over, as the self becomes god.

Self-love deceives and stops the pursuit of self-knowledge.

God either makes us or allows us to wander until our senses and our spirits are purified. Only the perfect see God. Only the pure in heart went into the Promised Land.

Caleb and Joshua are two of my favourite Old Testament heroes. But, I tend to like the John Wayne men, such as David and the Maccabees.

It is interesting that some of the most numinous and direct revelations of God and His angels were given to Joshua and the Maccabees.

These men fought out of a purity of heart, which is difficult for modern men to grasp.

Caleb saw the tall and fit Canaanites, but was not afraid. His family were blessed by his faith.

In fact, he was rewarded with so much land, that he could give much to his daughter, which I shall write about later.

Joshua, Caleb, the Maccabees had to acquire a purity of heart, a death to self, in order to see God and His Hosts.  How is it that they, among so many who had to die in the Wilderness as a punishment, could go on?

These men loved God more than themselves or their comfort. Simple, really.

David fell into sin, but after his repentance of adultery and murder, he came back to God more humble and with a purity of heart.

Purity of heart demands that one loves, focuses, follows all the ways of God.

Metaphorically, those who wandered in the Wilderness were wandering in their own souls. Until they were purged of self-love, they could not even see the Promised Land. It is interesting that God only chose those who could actually obey Him totally to continue into Canaan. Even Moses was denied entrance and could only look on what he worked so hard to attain. But, he had sinned, being impatience with God.

Obedience is a fruit of the pure in heart. Complaining means that one is playing God. Those who wander in the Wilderness are finally purified, but only so that they can pass their faith and humility on to their children. And, this is key. The younger generation never saw the works of God. They did not see the Passover, the Exodus, the Parting of the Red Sea. But, they heard of the wonders of God from their parents.

They did not see Moses going up on to Mt. Sinai, or coming down and destroying the idolators. They did not see the earthquake which swallowed up the sinful leaders. I merely paraphrase Deuteronomy here.

But, they were formed in the desert.

This gives me hope. Those in this and the next generation will be formed in deserts.

They will need the stories, the heritage of the Catholic Tribe to carry on in unmitigated faith.

The Wilderness experience created a generation of the pure in heart.

To be continued....

The Purification of A Generation of Children

One of my readers asked me why God did these two things: one, cause the Hebrews to wander in the Sinai wilderness for forty years. She thought that the adoration of the golden calf was dealt with at the foot of the mountain.

Two, she could not understand why the army of  St. Joshua had to kill Canaanites. (Also connected to this, would be the slaughter of the Philistines by St. David.)

Good questions.

Yes, God did punish many of those who built the golden calf by death immediately when Moses came down from the mountain. However, the problem of the interior lives of the Hebrews required that there souls be purified. Of what? As I heard in a sermon long ago, the bodies of the Hebrews were freed from slavery in the Exodus, but their souls had to be freed from the slavery of sin and idolatry in the Wandering.

The hardest thing for some of the Israelites was that they had to adore the Unseen God. Although God spoke to Moses, His Voice was not heard by all. There was too much sin and corruption in the souls of the Hebrews blocking the Voice of God.

One can see that 40 years is a generation. All of those who came out of Egypt, barring a few, like Joshua and Caleb, were not allowed entrance into Canaan, not merely because of punishment for idolatry, but because they simply were not strong enough to conquer evil.

One cannot conquer evil outwardly if one has not conquered it inwardly. This is what purification is all about. As in the purification series here on this blog, the process of allowing God to get rid of all sin, the proclivity to sin and to be filled with the Holy Spirit is necessary not only for personal holiness, but for making the Church and the society holy.

Without personal holiness, the Church is weak. God had to purify His People. They were purified to the point where their children were being formed in God's ways from little on.

This is what we need to do now. Form our children from little on to be pure so that they can overcome evil. Evil will thrive and grow without the purity of St. Joshua.

Secondly, the Canaanites were bad news. I have studied their culture.They sacrificed babies, usually the first-born, to Moloch, and archaeologists have found clay jars with the skeletons of infants in them. They would roll these jars into the mouth of the furnaces of Moloch. They also put the bodies of sacrificed children under the foundations of houses. By the way, an old missionary priest friend of mine told me the Maoris did the same thing with the bodies of their slain enemies. His church was built over a Maori home and the remains were found under every one of the main four posts. The idea that the dead gave strength to a house and protected it is not confined to the Canaanites.

Joshua's name is the same as that of Jesus. The name means Saviour. and Joshua, like many other leaders in the Old Testament, is a type of Christ. He tell us something about Christ and points to Christ's winning the battle over evil and death. He is a type of Christ for leading the Israelites into the Promised Land, as Christ leads us to Heaven. But, not without spiritual warfare.

And Joshua had to fight against cannibals.  I recommend reading the Book of Joshua.
But, the Book of Wisdom also refers to these bloody rituals.

1] O how good and sweet is thy spirit, O Lord, in all things! [2] And therefore thou chastisest them that err, by little and little: and admonishest them, and speakest to them, concerning the things wherein they offend: that leaving their wickedness, they may believe in thee, O Lord. [3] For those ancient inhabitants of thy holy land, whom thou didst abhor, [4] Because they did works hateful to thee by their sorceries, and wicked sacrifices, [5] And those merciless murderers of their own children, and eaters of men' s bowels, and devourers of blood from the midst of thy consecration, DR

The woman who asked the question could not understand offensive warfare dictated by God in the Old Testament.

For a context, many in 2013 have lost the idea of defense; that is, that in Catholic teaching, one may defend one's family, one's nation, and even one's property.

However, the offensive wars of the Old Testament, like the destruction of the five cities by God, two of which were Sodom and Gomorrah, are hard for modern Catholics to understand.

God called His People to a holiness and He called them to the Promised Land. His Will was to cleanse those lands of evil so that His People would thrive in holiness.

Christ does not call us to offensive war, except in prayer. Spiritual warfare needs spiritual weapons. However, we have a right to defend ourselves and a duty to defend those who are weak-children, women, the elderly.

As in The Mission, there are two ways to withstand evil. One is fighting, and one is witnessing peace. Both groups were right, but all but a few died.

Make pursuing the path to purification a priority in your lives. Teach your children and form them from the cradle. They shall see the age of the Canaanites. It is already upon us in some places.