Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/173



Steadfast faith. Moses,  while  living  at  home  with  his  parents, had been  taught  to  believe  in  the  true  God  and  the  promised  Redeemer. When he  left  home,  he  went  to  live  at  the  king’s  court,  and  was  surrounded on  all  sides  by  pagans. Still he  preserved  the  true  faith taught to  him  as  a boy,  and  remained  firm  in  the  worship  of  the  one true God. When he  was  a man,  he  preferred  to  be  poor  and  persecuted, rather  than  rich  and  honoured,  and  unable  to  help  his brethren in  the  faith. He therefore  left  the  pagan  court,  and  joined his oppressed  countrymen.

The blessings  of  solitude. It  was  in  his  solitude  that  God  appeared to Moses. God is  to  be  found,  not  in  the  turmoil  of  the  world,  but in solitude. There He  speaks  to  our  hearts,  and  there  we  can  speak to Him. He who  is  always  in  society,  must  be  distracted,  and  cannot pray well. All the  Saints  loved  solitude,  and  sought  it  out,  so  that they might  be  alone  with  God. St. Bernard  praised  it  in  these  words: “O blessed  solitude! O solitary blessedness!”

Moses a type  of  Christ. Moses,  despising  the  splendour  of  Egypt in order  to  comfort  the  Jews,  is  a figure  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  came down from  heaven,  was  born  in  a stable,  and  laid  in  a manger,  to redeem  us  from  the  flames  of  hell.

O, may  you,  when  you  grow  up,  be  as  steadfast in  faith  as  Moses  was,  and  never  forget  or  deny  that  Christian teaching, which  you  are  now  receiving  in  your  youth. Pray for steadfastness and  perseverance  in  the  holy  Catholic  faith!

Cannot you  sometimes  contrive  to  be  alone  for  a few  minutes, imitating  in  this  St.  Aloysius,  who  used  to  retire  into some comer  of  his  father’s  house,  so  as  to  be  able  to  pray  undisturbed?

OW Moses  fed  the  sheep  of  Jethro,  his  father-in-law. One day he  drove  his  flock  into  the  desert,  and  came  as  far as Mount  Horeb. There the  Lord  appeared  to  him  in  a flame of fire,  which  issued  from  the  midst  of  a bush. Moses saw  that