THE JESSE TREE
SERIES
What does Wednesday of the Second week of Advent entail for our Jesse
Tree:
GIVING OF THE TORAH
AT SINAI
SCRIPTURE:
Chapter 19 of Exodus is the
story of the promise of the Covenant.
In an intimate dialogue with Moses, God promises to conclude a covenant with his chosen people. God recalls how he freed the Hebrew tribes from slavery. From that time there will be a holy and priestly people, a people entirely consecrated to the service of the Lord and to this end separated from other races. This is their calling and their dignity, and it is due to God's initiative without any merit on the part of Israel. The people must respond to this divine election in faith and in loving service. But nevertheless, the fact remains that it will be a continual struggle to be in very fact the people of God and not to lose this vocation to infidelity.
In an intimate dialogue with Moses, God promises to conclude a covenant with his chosen people. God recalls how he freed the Hebrew tribes from slavery. From that time there will be a holy and priestly people, a people entirely consecrated to the service of the Lord and to this end separated from other races. This is their calling and their dignity, and it is due to God's initiative without any merit on the part of Israel. The people must respond to this divine election in faith and in loving service. But nevertheless, the fact remains that it will be a continual struggle to be in very fact the people of God and not to lose this vocation to infidelity.
Chapter 20:is the giving of the ten commandments to Moses and the people.
Sinai is the place of encounter between God and his people. At Sinai is the meeting place which God had fixed for this people, at the time of their departure from Egypt. The 10 commandments sum up and bring to head the legislation of the old covenant; the relations of the people to their God and of the Israelites among themselves are set out and defined by these commandments.
The 10 commandments are not a series of suggestions and are not just optional extras. The 10 commandments are given to us by God for our good to obey. The Decalogue remains the description of our attitude to God and of our relations with our neighbours. We must see the Decalogue in the light of Jesus preaching- he has not abolished but rather accomplish the law.
.
THE PERSON: GOD.
Let us recall how God gave the 10 commandments to Moses and made a covenant with the Israelites, that they would be His people and He would be their God.
Let us recall how God gave the 10 commandments to Moses and made a covenant with the Israelites, that they would be His people and He would be their God.
THE EVENT/THEME: GIVING OF THE TORAH
AT SINAI: During our reflection time today, let
us ponder on the giving of the Torah at Sinai.
We may wish to
We may wish to
1.
Offer a prayer of thanksgiving to our God who desires to be with His people in the past
and in the present.
2.
Rediscover the beauty of the ten commandments during this Advent. You may wish to
examine either the compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the
Catechism of the Catholic Church (Section 2) to develop a greater understanding
and appreciation of them.
3.
Make a practical commitment: As today's theme is the giving of the Torah at Sinai, we may wish to:
o
learn and know and examine our lives
in the light of the 10 commandments.
o
make the covenant of the Israelites
our own-that we will be God's people and He will be our God. During this
Advent, let us come to know, love and serve our God so that we will be happy
with Him for ever in Heaven.
SYMBOL 11: THE TABLETS OF STONE
INSCRIBED WITH THE 10 COMMANDMENTS.
The Tablets of Stone are a symbol of the Church through which the law of God is handed down to us. Let us listen to the voice of God in the Church as we prepare our eleventh symbol (tenth cut out symbol) and place it on the tree
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