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The prophet Isaiah reminds the people of Israel how God delivered them from oppression and slavery in Egypt. That same God will deliver the people of Israel from exile in Babylon. In his words, “Remember not the events of the past…see, I am doing something new!... for I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink. The people whom I have formed for myself…” This is a very appropriate message because Lent is a time to forget our past failures and open our hearts for the Lord to wash us anew with the living water of his mercy and grace. Isaiah’s message is one of HOPE. Hope is also the central message of the second and the gospel readings.

In the first reading, the people of Israel celebrated the Passover, remembering how God, with signs, wonders and outstretched hands, delivered and liberated the people of Israel from slavery and bondage from Egypt. The Psalmist declared: “When the poor one called out, the Lord heard, and from all his distress he saved him. When the people of Israel called from Egypt, the Lord heard and saved them.”

The first reading of our liturgy presents us with the account of the call/vocation of Moses. God called and chose him to lead the people of Israel from slavery, oppression and suffering in Egypt to the promise Land. In the process, Moses experienced the great sign of the burning bush that was not consumed. God revealed his name to Moses as, “I am.” Jesus is considered the new Moses sent by God to come and deliver us/the world from the slavery, oppression of sin/Satan.

God took Abram outside and asked him to look up at the sky and promised him that his descendants shall be as many as the stars. Abram believed God. He had faith in God and it was credited to him as an act of righteousness. And the Lord made a covenant with Abram because he put his trust and faith in Him. We are children of Abram, like him we are called to have faith in God. Trust and have faith in the Lord who is our light, salvation, refuge and our helper.

Moses instructed the people to tell their story, “My father … went down to Egypt with a small household … But there he became a nation, great, strong, and numerous.” They were maltreated and oppressed. But God of their fathers with his powerful hand and outstretched arm, with signs and wonders brought them out into a country flowing with milk and honey: the promised land. (Forty days) He proved to be their true refuge and fortress able to deliver his people when they called upon him. As he promised in Psalm 91, “He shall call upon me and I will answer him; I will be with him in distress; I will deliver him and glorify him.”