“Moses used to pitch a tentc outside the camp at some distance. It was called the tent of meeting. Anyone who wished to consult the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp.” (Exodus 33:7.)
Saint Ambrose of Milan offers the following insight on this verse from today’s First Reading:
“For that reason Jesus departed from the city, so that when you depart from this world, you may be above the world. Moses, who alone saw God, kept the tabernacle outside the camp when he spoke with God. And while the blood of the sacrificial victims, which was shed for sin, was carried to the altars, the carcasses, however, were burnt beyond the camp, because no one located within the vices of this world puts off sin nor is his blood accepted by God, unless he departs from the filth of this body.” (Letter 14)
Collect
O God, protector of those who hope in You
without Whom nothing has firm foundation,
nothing is holy,
bestow in abundance Your mercy upon us
and grant that,
with You as our ruler and guide,
we may use the good things that pass
in such a way as to hold fast even now
to those that ever endure.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
without Whom nothing has firm foundation,
nothing is holy,
bestow in abundance Your mercy upon us
and grant that,
with You as our ruler and guide,
we may use the good things that pass
in such a way as to hold fast even now
to those that ever endure.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
