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From: Exodus 17:3-7

The Water from the Rock

[3] But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Mo-
ses, and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children
and our cattle with thirst?” [4] So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do with
this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” [5] And the LORD said to Mo-
ses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel;
and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go. [6] Behold,
I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock,
and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so, in
the sight of the elders of Israel. [7] And he called the name of the place Massah
and Meribah, because of the faultfinding of the children of Israel, and because
they put the Lord to the proof by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

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Commentary:

17:1-7. The severity of desert life (notably hunger and thirst) leads God to help
the Israelites in various ways, all of them full of theological implications. The mi-
racle of the manna, which was preceded by that of the water which Moses made
drinkable (15:22-25), is followed by a new work of wonder to do with water: Mo-
ses causes water to flow from a rock. This happened at Rephidim, probably what
is now Wadi Refayid, some 13 km (8 miles) from Djebel Mfisa.

The sons of Israel’s faith in God and in Moses has been strengthening little by lit-
tle; but they often doubt whether God is there at all (v. 7). They begin to murmur
and to seek proofs of his presence: have they been brought out of Egypt to die,
or to attain salvation? The water which Moses causes to come out of the rock is
a further sign to bolster their faith. This episode names two places — Meribah,
which in popular etymology means “contention”, “dispute”, “lawsuit”, and Mas-
sah, which is “proof’, “test”, “temptation”. Many biblical passages recall this sin
( cf. Deut 6: 16; 9:22-24; 33:8; Ps 95:8-9), even adding that Moses himself lacked
faith and struck the rock twice (cf. Num 20:1-13; Deut: 32:51; Ps 106:32). Lack of
trust in the goodness and power of God means tempting God and it is a grave sin
against faith — even more so in the case of Moses, who had experienced God’s
special love and who ought to have given good example. When man meets some
contradiction or some difficulty he cannot immediately solve, his faith may waver
but he should never doubt, because “if deliberately cultivated, doubt can lead to
spiritual blindness” (”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 2008).

There is a rabbinical tradition which says that the rock stayed with the Israelites
throughout their sojourn in the desert; St Paul refers to this legend when he says
“the Rock was Christ” (1 Cor 10:4). On the basis of biblical references to the won-
drous nature of waters (cf. Ps 78:15-16; 105:4; Wis 11:4-14) the Fathers said this
episode prefigures the wonderful effects of Baptism: “See the mystery: ‘Moses’ is
the Prophet; the rod is the word of God; the priest touches the rock with the word
of God, and water flows, and the people of God drink” (St Ambrose, “De Sacra-
mentis”, 8, 5, 1, 3).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

Reconciliation Through Christ’s Sacrifice, the Basis of our Hope

[1] Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. [2] Through Him we have obtained access to this grace in
which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. [5] And
hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. [6] While we were yet helpless,
at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. [7] Why, one will hardly die for a righ-
teous man—though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. [8] But God
shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

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Commentary:

1-5. In this very moving passage God helps us see “the divine interlacing of the
three theological virtues which form the backing upon which the true life of every
Christian man or woman has to be woven” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 205).
Faith, hope and charity act in us in turn, causing us to grow in the life of grace.
Thus, faith leads us to know and be sure of things we hope for (cf. Hebrews 11:1);
hope ensures that we shall attain them, and enlivens our love of God; charity, for
its part, gives us energy to practise the other two theological virtues. The definitive
outcome of this growth in love, faith and hope is the everlasting peace that is of
the essence of eternal life.

As long as we are in this present life we do have peace to some degree—but with
tribulation. Therefore, the peace attainable in this life does not consist in the con-
tentment of someone who wants to have no problems, but rather in the resolute-
ness full of hope (”character”) of someone who manages to rise above suffering
and stays faithful through endurance. Suffering is necessary for us, because it is
the normal way to grow in virtue (cf. James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:5-7); that is why it is
providential (cf. Philippians 1:19; Colossians 1:24) and leads to joy and happi-
ness (1 Thessalonians 1:6).

“A person who hopes for something and strives eagerly to attain it is ready to
endure all kinds of difficulty and distress. Thus, for example, a sick person if he
is eager to be healthy, is happy to take the bitter medicine which will cure him.
Therefore, one sign of the ardent hope that is ours thanks to Christ is that we
glory not only in the hope of future glory, but also in the afflictions which we suf-
fer in order to attain it” (St. Thomas Aquinas, “Commentary on Romans, ad loc.”).

A person who lives by faith, hope and charity realizes that suffering is not some-
thing meaningless but rather is designed by God for our perfecting. Perfection
consists “in the bringing of our wills so closely into conformity with the will of
God that, as soon as we realize He wills anything, we desire it ourselves with all
our might, and take the bitter with the sweet, knowing that to be His Majesty’s
will [...]. If our love is perfect, it has this quality of leading us to forget our own
pleasure in order to please Him whom we love. And that is indeed what happens”
(St. Teresa of Avila, “Book of Foundations”, Chapter 5).

5. The love which St. Paul speaks of here is, at one and the same time, God’s
love for us—manifested in His sending the Holy Spirit—and the love which God pla-
ces in our soul to enable us to love Him. The Second Council of Orange, quoting
St. Augustine, explains this as follows: “To love God is entirely a gift of God. He,
without being loved, loves us and enabled us to love Him. We were loved when
we were still displeasing to Him, so that we might be given something whereby
we might please Him. So it is that the Spirit of the Father and the Son, whom we
love with the Father and the son, pours charity into our hearts” (Second Council
of Orange, “De Gratia”, Canon 25; cf. St. Augustine, “In Ioann. Evang.”, 102, 5).

6-11. The friendship which reigned in paradise between God and man was foll-
owed by the enmity created by Adam’s sin. By promising a future redeemer, God
once more offered mankind his friendship. The scale of God’s love for us can be
seen in the “reconciliation “ which the Apostle speaks about, which took place
on the Cross, when Christ did away with this enmity, making our peace with God
and reconciling us to him (cf. Eph 2:15-16).

The petition in the Our Father, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us”, is an invitation to imitate the way God treats us, because by
loving our enemies “there shines forth in us some likeness to God our Father, who,
by the death of his Son, ransomed from everlasting perdition and reconciled to him-
self the human race, which before was most unfriendly and hostile to him “ (”St
Pius V Catechism”, IV, 14, 19).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.