6 “This is my name forever;/ thus am I to be remembered through all generations (3).” (Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15) The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Psalm 103 The Lord is kind and merciful. Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all my being, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. He pardons all your iniquities, he heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction, crowns you with kindness and compassion. The Lord secures justice and the rights of all the oppressed. He has made known his ways to Moses, and his deeds to the children of Israel. Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him. A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians The life of the people with Moses in the desert was written down as a warning to us. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock (4) that followed them, and the rock was the Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert. These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they did. Do not grumble as some of them did, and suffered death by the destroyer (5). These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come.Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall. (1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12) (4) In order to satisfy the thirst of the Jewish people in the desert, Moses struck a rock and water gushed out. For Paul, this is an image of the strength that comes from God because this spiritual rock was Christ protecting and guiding the believers. (5) The destroyer is the enemy of God and man. As long as we live with God, we are safe and secure. But if we separate ourselves from God, the destroyer has the power to hurt us. The difficult words
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