The book of Exodus says,
“In the night watch just before dawn the Lord cast upon the Egyptian force through the column of the fiery cloud a glance that threw them into a panic; and he so clogged their chariot wheels that they could hardly drive.”
Israel would soon see those Egyptians lying dead on the seashore.
During another night watch, many, many years later, as one Sunday was dawning on a tomb outside the walls of Jerusalem, an angel of the Lord descended from heaven. As the Gospel of Matthew describes it,
“His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards [there] were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men.”
When Pharaoh’s Egyptians saw the glance the Lord cast through the column of the fiery cloud they sounded the retreat before Israel, because the Lord was fighting for them against the Egyptians.
Since the resurrection of Jesus, the spirits of evil have been on a retreat, because the Lord is fighting for us against them. Their uneven retreat continues today, but we shall witness their total defeat. Then, the book of Revelation says, we who followed the Lord shall sing among the angels the “song of Moses,” or something like it. And, in the presence of God our Father, Christ our brother, Mary our Mother, with the saints and one another as brothers and sisters, with the Holy Spirit as our bond, we will rejoice at the Lord’s victory for us.
Parishable Items 