Keep it moving! Keep it moving! Plenty of room!

Sorry about no blog yesterday, but I was completely spent! I didn't want anything to do with the computer for some reason!
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Last week, on the Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, I asked Alicia if she had considered naming the baby Kateri--she said she had, but she couldn't figure out a name "to go with it". (We've all been there--we want our children's names to have a "flow" about them, whether we admit it or not!) And I must admit that Liliana Noelle has a "flow." Then just a couple of days ago it hit me--she DID name the baby after her patron saint (probably subconciously)--Kateri is also known as the LILY of the Mohawks! Food for thought. Coincidence? I don't believe in it.
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Ex 14:5-18
When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them. They exclaimed, "What have we done! Why, we have released Israel from our service!" So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiers—six hundred first-class chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all.

So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaoh that he pursued the children of Israel even while they were marching away in triumph. The Egyptians, then, pursued them; Pharaoh’s whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers, caught up with them as they lay encamped by the sea, at Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

Pharaoh was already near when the children of Israel looked up and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them. In great fright they cried out to the LORD. And they complained to Moses, "Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert? Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said, 'Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’? Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the desert."

But Moses answered the people, "Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today. These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still."

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea, split the sea in two, that the children of Israel may pass through it on dry land. But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate that they will go in after them. Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots and charioteers. The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I receive glory through Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers."

Mt 12:38-42
Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." He said to them in reply, "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here."

How many times have we failed to take action - when action was clearly called for? "Be still, and know that I am God" - is not a recommendation to lead a life of complete passivity. "Let God do it - or let anyone else do it -just leave me in peace and quiet.” Or, “I’m not smart enough or capable enough. Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away.”

I have always been proud of the fact that I am called upon by my superiors at work to get the jobs done that seem impossible or unpleasant because A) I usually get them done on time, B) I try to do a quality job, and C) I don’t complain about it—at least to the point of being a “whiner”.

But every once in a while, I get really frustrated when, after a particularly hard or time-consuming task has been done (IMHO) perfectly, I don’t get a pat on the back, or a “good job, Steve”. Instead, I get another task right away as if I am being asked, “What have you done for me lately?” In a way, it feels like I was a failure at my last task.

I imagine this is how Moses feels (albeit on a much larger scale) during today’s readings. I mean come on! He has shown sign after sign after sign (through the power of God, of course) to the Israelites, delivering them from slavery in Egypt and they complain at every turn! Oy! He must have been thinking, “What am I doing wrong, Lord?” But God assures him that everything will go according to the divine plan, as long as he (Moses) remains faithful and trusting.

In the Gospel, Jesus has been performing miracles on a daily basis in front of the scribes and Pharisees, but they CHOOSE not to believe them, because they can’t understand how a humble carpenter can possibly be the Messiah. And they expected Jesus to just come down from Heaven and—“Poof”—no more Romans, peace on earth, a new Eden. When His plans didn’t fit into their own, they plotted to kill him. Which, as we all know now, is exactly what God’s plan for us was all along! They didn’t realize that just as He expected the Israelites to keep moving forward in the desert despite their fears, He expects us to keep moving forward past our fears of failure, of rejection, of our sins toward our final goal—life in His Presence.

How do we keep moving forward? Prayer. Fasting. Penance. By giving glory and praise to God through keeping and living His Commandments.