Book of Numbers #16

The Levites did not receive their own portion of the Land. They were God's priests and lay servants and Israel was commanded to provide for its priesthood. The command still stands in the Catholic Church today.

The prescription forbade Levites from owning farmland -- the major source of wealth in ancient Israel. The forty-eight cities set aside for them provide them with permanent residence and pasturage for their flock. To those who trust in his Name, God always provides what is necessary. In particular, God provided cities of refuge for those who have accidentally caused the death of a man. God knew the people's lust for blood and the imperative they lived under to avenge the death of their own, even when it was caused accidentally.

The Lord could have forced the Israelites to change their ways. He could have instituted laws against this type of egregious behavior but he knew that virtue alone compels men to obey a just law, and in regards to vengeance, honor, and blood, many a man, then and now, is still lacking the necessary restraint and humility to refrain from vengeance.

Thus, the Lord provided temporary relief, cities of refuge that an avenger could not enter. These cities became an exile at home -- another stark reminder that the Promised Land was still mostly an unfulfilled promise until the coming of the Messiah who would open the Gates of Heaven and invite us into his eternal dwelling, the everlasting Promised Land.

Book of Numbers #15

Oftentimes, we ask God for help. He provides it and shows us the way, but at the first fork in the road, we drop God's plan and go our merry way.No sooner had Israel reached the outskirts of the promised land that two tribes Gad and Reuben ask Moses to settle in the Transjordan -- which was not part of God's initial plan. Moses initially refuses but a compromise is found and the two tribes take possession of this area.

Four hundred years earlier, Jacob Israel went down to Egypt to meet his son and stayed there. The Israelites had a good life in Goshen but God remained silent through four centuries. Gad and Reuben relied on their eyes to decide what was best for them and they will be two of the first tribes to disappear a mere five hundred years later.

The rest of the tribes listen to Moses as he divides for them Canaan and specifies the boundary of the Promised Land. It is God who gives us our lot in life and it is God who prepares our lot in Heaven.

Be careful not to increase the former at the expense of the latter.

Book of Numbers #14

The census is complete. War is coming and God prepares Israel through the holy celebration of the seventh month. War, like the rest of the calamities that plague the human race cannot be solved without the liturgy.

The first day of the seventh month -- it bears repeating -- is the entryway into the holiest part of the Jewish year and the tenth day is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Israel is about to enter the Promised Land and it begins with atonement, reminiscent of their departure from Egypt which began with Passover. Thus their sojourn in the wilderness is contained within a liturgical arc reminding us that our lives, our own passage through the wilderness begins with baptism and ends with the last rite.

It does not mean that liturgy is at the service of daily life; rather what it means is that daily life is liturgical or at least it should be.

Moses's life, as a servant of God, started with the plagues of Egypt and ended with the war against Midian. The incident at Baal Peor had left many Israelites dead but the Midianites were unharmed. So often, God begins by cleansing his house, the Church, before dealing with those who were the cause of the downfall. In this case, a war is declared against Midian in which Balaam, the one who spoke four blessings on Israel, died. So did Balak the King of Median.

Therefore, even if the events of our time may dismay and discourage us, we would do well to remember that Jesus Christ is Lord of history... always and at all times. All the events of our time will serve to his greater glory, whether we are willing participants or not.