God’s love for his people
Hand in hand with this Sunday’s first reading, we move forward in the Pope’s Message for Lent 2024.
“I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of a place of slavery.” Thus opens the Decalogue given to Moses on Mount Sinai (Ex. 20:2).
The people know well what exodus God is talking about; the experience of slavery is still imprinted on their flesh. Receive the ten words of the covenant in the desert as the path to freedom. We call them “commandments”, underlining the strength of the love with which God educates his people.
The call to freedom is, indeed, a vigorous call. God educates his people to abandon their slavery and experience the passage from death to life. Like a bridegroom, he draws us back to himself and whispers words of love to our hearts.
To think and pray:
- Underlining the strength of the love with which God educates his people. Reread today’s first reading and let yourself be invaded by the love with which God speaks to Israel and asks them to have him as their only God.
- To experience the passage from death to life. In which deaths do I live? To what lives do you invite me, Lord? When it is time to die, may I not despair because You are with me, You take me by the hand.
- He draws us back to Himself and whispers words of love to our hearts: “I am the Lord, your God…”. If I hear these words of love, will I be able to respond stingily?
Lent 2024:
