Fragmenda

Scripture

Exodus 23–25

Exodus 23

Laws for judges; the rest of the seventh year, and day: three principal feasts to be solemnized every year; the promise of an angel, to conduct and protect them: idols are to be destroyed.

1 

Thou shalt not receive the voice of a lie: neither shalt thou join thy hand to bear false witness for a wicked person.

2 

Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou yield in judgment, to the opinion of the most part, to stray from the truth.

3 

Neither shalt thou favour a poor man in judgment.

4 

If thou meet thy enemy’s ox or ass going astray, bring it back to him.

5 

If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lie underneath his burden, thou shalt not pass by, but shalt lift him up with him.

6 

Thou shalt not go aside in the poor man’s judgment.

7 

Thou shalt fly lying. The innocent and just person thou shalt not put to death: because I abhor the wicked.

8 

Neither shalt thou take bribes, which even blind the wise, and pervert the words of the just.

9 

Thou shalt not molest a stranger, for you know the hearts of strangers: for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

10 

Six years thou shalt sow thy ground, and shalt gather the corn thereof.

11 

But the seventh year thou shalt let it alone, and suffer it to rest, that the poor of thy people may eat, and whatsoever shall be left, let the beasts of the field eat it: so shalt thou do with thy vineyard and thy oliveyard.

12 

Six days thou shalt work: the seventh day thou shalt cease, that thy ox and thy ass may rest: and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.

13 

Keep all things that I have said to you. And by the name of strange gods you shall not swear, neither shall it be heard out of your mouth.

14 

Three times every year you shall celebrate feasts to me.

15 

Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month of new corn, when thou didst come forth out of Egypt: thou shalt not appear empty before me.

16 

And the feast of the harvest of the firstfruits of thy work, whatsoever thou hast sown in the field. The feast also in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in all thy corn out of the field.

17 

Thrice a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God.

18 

Thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of my victim upon leaven, neither shall the fat of my solemnity remain until the morning.

19 

Thou shalt carry the first-fruits of the corn of thy ground to the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam.

20 

Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared.

21 

Take notice of him, and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be contemned: for he will not forgive when thou hast sinned, and my name is in him.

22 

But if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee.

23 

And my angel shall go before thee, and shall bring thee in unto the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, whom I will destroy.

24 

Thou shalt not adore their gods, nor serve them. Thou shalt not do their works, but shalt destroy them, and break their statues.

25 

And you shall serve the Lord your God, that I may bless your bread and your waters, and may take away sickness from the midst of thee.

26 

There shall not be one fruitless nor barren in thy land: I will fill the number of thy days.

27 

I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come: and will turn the backs of all thy enemies before thee:

28 

Sending out hornets before, that shall drive away the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, before thou come in.

29 

I will not cast them out from thy face in one year; lest the land be brought into a wilderness, and the beasts multiply against thee.

30 

By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, till thou be increased, and dost possess the land.

31 

And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea to the sea of the Palestines, and from the desert to the river: I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and will drive them out from before you.

32 

Thou shalt not enter into league with them, nor with their gods.

33 

Let them not dwell in thy land, lest perhaps they make thee sin against me, if thou serve their gods; which, undoubtedly, will be a scandal to thee.


Exodus 24

Moses writeth his law; and after offering sacrifices, sprinkleth the blood of the testament upon the people: then goeth up the mountain which God covereth with a fiery cloud.

1 

And he said to Moses: Come up to the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel, and you shall adore afar off.

2 

And Moses alone shall come up to the Lord, but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people come up with him.

3 

So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice: We will do all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken.

4 

And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord: and rising in the morning, he built an altar at the foot of the mount, and twelve titles according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 

And he sent young men of the children of Israel, and they offered holocausts, and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord.

6 

Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls; and the rest he poured upon the altar.

7 

And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said: All things that the Lord hath spoken, we will do, we will be obedient.

8 

And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: This is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.

9 

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel went up:

10 

And they saw the God of Israel: and under his feet as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as the heaven, when clear.

11 

Neither did he lay his hand upon those of the children of Israel, that retired afar off, and they saw God, and they did eat and drink.

12 

And the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me into the mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

13 

Moses rose up, and his minister Josue: and Moses going up into the mount of God,

14 

Said to the ancients: Wait ye here till we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you: if any question shall arise, you shall refer it to them.

15 

And when Moses was gone up, a cloud covered the mount.

16 

And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with a cloud six days: and the seventh day he called him out of the midst of the cloud.

17 

And the sight of the glory of the Lord, was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel.

18 

And Moses entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the mountain: And he was there forty days and forty nights.


Exodus 25

Offerings prescribed for making the tabernacle, the ark, the candlestick, etc.

1 

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 

Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring firstfruits to me: of every man that offereth of his own accord, you shall take them.

3 

And these are the things you must take: Gold, and silver, and brass,

4 

Violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine linen, and goats’ hair,

5 

And rams’ skins dyed red, and violet skins, and setim wood:

6 

Oil to make lights: spices for ointment, and for sweetsmelling incense:

7 

Onyx stones, and precious stones to adorn the ephod and the rational.

8 

And they shall make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in the midst of them:

9 

According to all the likeness of the tabernacle which I will shew thee, and of all the vessels for the service thereof: and thus you shall make it:

10 

Frame an ark of setim wood, the length whereof shall be of two cubits and a half; the breadth, a cubit and a half; the height, likewise, a cubit and a half.

11 

And thou shalt overlay it with the purest gold, within and without; and over it thou shalt make a golden crown round about:

12 

And four golden rings, which thou shalt put at the four corners of the ark: let two rings be on the one side, and two on the other.

13 

Thou shalt make bars also of setim wood, and shalt overlay them with gold.

14 

And thou shalt put them in through the rings that are in the sides of the ark, that it may be carried on them:

15 

And they shall be always in the rings, neither shall they at any time be drawn out of them.

16 

And thou shalt put in the ark the testimony which I will give thee.

17 

Thou shalt make also a propitiatory of the purest gold: the length thereof shall be two cubits and a half, and the breadth a cubit and a half.

18 

Thou shalt make also two cherubims of beaten gold, on the two sides of the oracle.

19 

Let one cherub be on the one side, and the other on the other.

20 

Let them cover both sides of the propitiatory, spreading their wings, and covering the oracle, and let them look one towards the other, their faces being turned towards the propitiatory wherewith the ark is to be covered.

21 

In which thou shalt put the testimony that I will give thee.

22 

Thence will I give orders, and will speak to thee over the propitiatory, and from the midst of the two cherubims, which shall be upon the ark of the testimony, all things which I will command the children of Israel by thee.

23 

Thou shalt make a table also of setim wood, of two cubits in length, and a cubit in breadth, and a cubit and a half in height.

24 

And thou shalt overlay it with the purest gold: and thou shalt make to it a golden ledge round about.

25 

And to the ledge itself a polished crown, four inches high; and over the same another little golden crown.

26 

Thou shalt prepare also four golden rings, and shalt put them in the four corners of the same table, over each foot.

27 

Under the crown shall the golden rings be, that the bars may be put through them, and the table may be carried.

28 

The bars also themselves thou shalt make of setim wood, and shalt overlay them with gold, to bear up the table.

29 

Thou shalt prepare also dishes, and bowls, censers, and cups, wherein the libations are to be offered, of the purest gold.

30 

And thou shalt set upon the table loaves of proposition in my sight always.

31 

Thou shalt make also a candlestick of beaten work, of the finest gold, the shaft thereof, and the branches, the cups, and the bowls, and the lilies going forth from it.

32 

Six branches shall come out of the sides, three out of one side, and three out of the other.

33 

Three cups as it were nuts to every branch, and a bowl withal, and a lily: and three cups likewise of the fashion of nuts in the other branch, and a bowl withal, and a lily. Such shall be the work of the six branches, that are to come out from the shaft:

34 

And in the candlestick itself shall be four cups in the manner of a nut, and at every one bowls and lilies.

35 

Bowls under two branches in three places, which together make six, coming forth out of one shaft.

36 

And both the bowls and the branches shall be of the same beaten work of the purest gold.

37 

Thou shalt make also seven lamps, and shalt set them upon the candlestick, to give light over against.

38 

The snuffers also, and where the snuffings shall be put out, shall be made of the purest gold.

39 

The whole weight of the candlestick, with all the furniture thereof, shall be a talent of the purest gold.

40 

Look, and make it according to the pattern that was shewn thee in the mount.

Catechism

An Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism of Christian Doctrine, Lesson 1, Questions 6-8

6 Q. Why did God make you?

A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.

"To know" Him, because we must know of a thing before we can love it. A poor savage in Africa never longs to be at a game or contest going on in America, because he does not know it and therefore cannot love it. We see a person and know him; if he pleases us we love him, and if we love him we will try to serve him; we will not be satisfied with doing merely what he asks of us, but will do whatever we think might give him pleasure. So it is in regard to God. We must first know Him—learn who He is from our catechisms and books of instruction, but especially from the teaching of God's ministers, the Holy Father, bishops and priests. When we know Him, we shall love Him. If we knew Him perfectly, we should love Him perfectly; so the better we know Him the more we shall love Him. And as it is our chief duty to love Him and serve Him upon earth, it becomes our strict duty to learn here whatever we can of His nature, attributes, and holy laws. The saints and angels in Heaven know God so well that they must love Him, and cannot therefore offend Him.

You have all seen some person in the world, or maybe several persons, whom you have greatly admired; still you did not love them perfectly; there was always some little thing about them in looks, manners, or disposition that could be rendered more pleasing; some defect or want you would like to see supplied; some fault or imperfection you would like to see corrected. Now suppose you had the power to take all the good qualities you found in the persons you loved and unite them in one person, in whom there would be nothing displeasing, but everything perfect and beautiful. Do you not think you would love such a person very much indeed?

Moreover, suppose you knew that person loved you intensely, would it not be your greatest delight to be ever with such a friend? Well, then, all the lovable qualities and beauties you see in created beings come from God and are bestowed by Him; yet all the good qualities on earth and those of the angels and saints in Heaven, and even of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, if united in one person would be nothing compared to the goodness and beauty of God. How good and how lovable, therefore, must He be! And what shall we say when we think that He loves us with a greater love than we could ever love Him, even with our most earnest efforts? Try then first to know God and you will surely love and serve Him. Do not be satisfied with the little you learn of Him in the Catechism, but afterward read good books, and above all hear sermons and instructions.

"In this world." Because unless we do what is pleasing to Him in this world we cannot be with Him in the next. Our condition in the next world depends entirely upon our conduct in this. Thus we have discovered the answer to the great question, What is the end of man; for what was he made?

7 Q. Of which must we take more care, our soul or our body?

A. We must take more care of our soul than of our body.

8 Q. Why must we take more care of our soul than of our body?

A. We must take more care of our soul than of our body, because in losing our soul we lose God and everlasting happiness.

Every sensible person will take most care of that which is most valuable. If a girl had a hundred dollars in a ten-cent pocket-book, you would consider her a great fool if she threw away the hundred dollars for fear of spoiling the pocket-book. Now, he is a greater fool who throws away his soul in order to save his body some little inconvenience, or gratify its wicked desires or inclinations. Wherever the soul will be, there the body will be also; so we should, in a certain way, try to forget the body and make sure of getting the soul safely into Heaven. You would not think much of the wisdom of a boy who allowed his kite to be smashed in pieces by giving his whole attention to the tail of the kite. If he took care to keep the kite itself high in air and away from every danger, the tail would follow it; and even if the tail did get entangled, it would have a good chance of being freed while the kite was still flying. But of what use is it to save a worthless piece of rag, if the kite—the valuable thing—is lost? Just in the same way, of what use is our body if our soul is lost? And remember we have only one soul. Therefore, make sure to save the soul, and the body also will be saved—that is, the whole man will be saved; for we cannot save the soul and lose the body; they will both be saved or both be lost.