Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The struggle against temptation and evil is often a difficult one. A sinful habit plagues me, and at times it feels as if there is little or no hope of ever overcoming it. In those moments, I may be tempted to cry out to God in despair, much like the Israelites in today’s first reading: Why did you bring me out of Egypt? It would have been better to remain a slave of Pharaoh—my sinful habit—than to struggle in vain and be defeated (cf. Exod 14:10–12).
But Moses’s reply is worth our meditation: “The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still” (Exod 14:14). And so it was: the Egyptians were brought down not by strength of arms but by God’s power. In the final estimation, it is not our effort but God’s grace that will conquer sin. We must do our part and work with that grace, striving against temptation, but we must also remember that grace is primary.
Today, let us contemplate God’s victory over the Egyptians, taking courage in our own struggles against the different forms of slavery that bind us, since we know that it is not our power but God’s grace which will conquer.