Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 21, 2023
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Exodus 11:10-12:14
God had sent trials on the Egyptians to force them to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt, but to no avail. Now God prepares a final intervention.
First, he instructs the Israelites to prepare a meal that they were to eat as travelers. On the night that the Israelites were to eat this travelers’ meal, God would pass through the Egyptians and strike down all their first-born males. The Israelites would be spared. God would pass over them. The Israelites were to repeat this Passover meal every year as a memorial of God’s intervention to free them from slavery.
We recall God’s liberation of his people each time we celebrate the Eucharistic meal. God has freed us from oppression and continues to do so.