Saint of the Day: Moses

Prophet and Liberator

His life

+ According to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, Moses is regarded as a great prophet and first teacher of the Israelites.

+ The Book of Exodus relates that he was raised by an Egyptian princess before being called by God to free the Hebrew people from slavery.

+ Following the plagues, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt—the Exodus—and handed on to them the “Ten Words” from God.

+ After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, Moses died at Mount Nebo, within sight of the Promised Land.

+ Later traditions assert that Moses was the author of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible).

+ Moses is mentioned more often in the New Testament than any other Old Testament figure. The most dramatic mention of Moses in the Gospels was his appearance—along with the prophet Elijah—during the Transfiguration of Jesus.

+ Moses is included in the Roman Martyrology (the Church’s official listing of saints) on September 4, the same day he is honored in the Lutheran Communion and some Orthodox Churches

For prayer and reflection

“Dear to God and men, Moses, whose memory is held in benediction, God’s honor devolved upon him, and the Lord strengthened him with fearful powers; God wrought swift miracles at his words and sustained him in the king’s presence. He gave him the commandments for his people and revealed to him his glory.”—Sirach 45:1b-3

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also remember Blessed Dina Belanger. She entered the she entered the Congregation of Religious of Jesus and Mary in Quebec in 1922 and taught music in one of her community’s schools. She contracted tuberculosis while caring for a sick child and died at the age of twenty-nine on September 4, 1929. Remembered for her spiritual autobiography, the music she composed, and her charity, she was beatified in 1993.

Prayer

O God, who alone are holy and without whom no one is good, command, we pray, through the intercession of blessed Moses, that we be numbered among those who do not deserve to be deprived of your glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Common of Holy Men and Women—For One Saint)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.