Praised be Jesus in Mary, now and forever.
After the events recounted yesterday, Moses fled to the land of Midian, married, and had two children.
One day he saw a strange sight and went to investigate.
A bush was on fire, but was not being consumed by the fire.
When he approached, God told him he was on holy ground.
This, in fact, is the mountain where he must bring the Hebrews to make a covenant with God.
This is the place of encounter with God.
This law of the covenant will make known to them the sin that enslaves their souls, something worse than the external oppression that enslaves their bodies.
It is on account of this external oppression that they have cried out to God, who has heard their cry.
Here we have mysteries of prayer and of election.
They are God's chosen people, and for this reason, he wants to make a covenant with them.
He told Abraham over 400 years before that he would deliver them from Egypt, and yet he did not begin to deliver them until they cried out to him.
God is kind and merciful.
He is merciful to whom he wills to be merciful, yet we must pray to receive what he wants to give us.
Moses is his chosen instrument, and yet he'd rather not be.
He doesn't want to go back to Egypt, where he was wanted for murder, and he doesn't think he's a persuasive speaker who can convince Pharaoh to give up his workforce of slaves.
God promises him a sign, but it's not a sign that will help him during his mission.
It is a sign that calls for faith, one because he will not see this sign until his mission is complete.
The Gospel speaks of the mystery of election.
Jesus praises the Father for having hidden the secrets of the kingdom from the wise and learned and revealed them to little ones.
Today's translation wants to explain little ones by translating it the childlike, but perhaps it's more precise to understand it as those who are little in their own sight, that is, the humble.
Christ is speaking especially to his apostles, whom he chose mostly from fishermen, not rabbis.
While the world courts and chooses the rich, the wise, the proud, God chooses the poor, says Cornelius a Lapide.
He chooses the poor, the ignorant, the weak.
He makes them rich, wise, and powerful in spirit above all the worldly.
The mysteries of the kingdom can only be known by those to whom God reveals them, those to whom Christ reveals them.
They are accepted by faith, not discovered by ingenuity, and faith calls for humility.
The mysteries of the kingdom were revealed to the humble handmaid of the Lord, who is prefigured by the burning bush.
God could have chosen any marble to attract Moses' attention.
He chose a burning bush to signify something that was to come.
Our God is a consuming fire, but the bush is not consumed.
St. Ephraim marveled at how the womb of flesh of the Virgin could carry the flame, and how the flame dwelt in the moist womb without burning it.
As the thorn bush at Horeb carried God in the flame, so Mary carried Christ in her virginity.
And St. Gregory of Nyssa says, the light of divinity, which through birth shone from her into human life, did not consume the burning bush, even as the flower of her virginity was not withered by giving birth.
So the burning bush represents Mary on two levels.
On the level of her body, her virginity is not consumed by becoming a mother.
And further, on the level of Christ's divinity, she bears in her womb our God, who is a consuming fire, and yet she is not consumed by that fire, even though she is all aflame with divine grace and love.
The bush is on holy ground.
This ground is a place of encounter with God.
This ground, too, is the Virgin, says St. Andrew of Crete.
The Virgin gives us Christ, who is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the one God.
And it is in Mary's arms that Jesus is found in Bethlehem by the shepherds and the Magi, that God is found by the shepherds and the Magi in Mary's arms.
And it is again in Mary's arms on Calvary that God is found after he is taken down from the cross.
The burning bush is a sign of God's presence.
The virginity of the mother is a sign of the divinity of the son.
So each of these represents a progress in the revelation of God.
At the burning bush, God reveals his name, as we'll hear tomorrow.
And in the incarnation, God reveals that he is the Trinity.
In the bush, Moses goes forth to deliver God's people from the slavery of Egypt.
And from the Virgin, Christ, the new Moses goes forth to deliver God's people from the slavery of sin.
So let us go over to look at this remarkable sight.
Let us contemplate this bush that is not burned.
Let us meditate the mystery of Mary, who is the mother of God and the mother who is still a virgin.
Praised be Jesus in Mary, now and forever.

If you would like to grow in love and knowledge of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, consider a subscription to the Missio Immacalatae magazine.
The Missio is a bi-monthly magazine published by the Franciscans of the Immaculate for over 15 years.
Every issue of the Missio features articles about Our Lady's privileges and her mission in the Church and world for the sanctification and conversion of souls.
The Missio takes to heart the ancient saying of the Church, De Maria Numquam Satis, of Mary, you can never say enough.
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The Missio is a practical way to behold your mother and take her into your home.
Ave Maria.