God is wonderful

God is wonderful. It is easy to become stuck focusing on errors in one place or details on another thing, and then to lose focus on the glory of God. The mysteries of the faith are not simply to be learned, but to be leaned so that one may return to them every day, every hour, every minute! (If at all possible!) If one considered anything that takes one's attention or is a source of contentment, one would do well to think of God who possesses its goodness more perfectly and wants to share it! Everyone enjoys hearing love stories, being in love. The greatest love story is that of God for his creatures. So great is the passion in involved that it is called The Passion! And it is not just another story. It is our story! My story. Your story. Everyone is somewhere in the plot. Either at the beginning where he loves you, but you take no notice of him; or already you have received all his gifts and retuned with all of your love; or perhaps there has been a break and you avoid any reminder of the divine love; and so on. How wonderful to know that God is the greatest lover and to respond! St. Teresa of Jesus (her religious name itself indicates that she is His possession) talks about how the holy soul "checkmates" God:

You have asked me to tell you about the first steps in prayer; although God did not lead me by them, my daughters I know no others, and even now I can hardly have acquired these elementary virtues. But you may be sure that anyone who cannot set out the pieces in a game of chess will never be able to play well, and, if he does not know how to give check, he will not be able to bring about a checkmate. Now you will reprove me for talking about games, as we do not play them in this house and are forbidden to do so. That will show you what kind of a mother God has given you -- she even knows about vanities like this! However, they say that the game is sometimes legitimate. How legitimate it will be for us to play it in this way, and, if we play it frequently, how quickly we shall give checkmate to this Divine King! He will not be able to move out of our check nor will He desire to do so.
It is the queen which gives the king most trouble in this game and all the other pieces support her. There is no queen who can beat this King as well as humility can; for humility brought Him down from Heaven into the Virgin's womb and with humility we can draw Him into our souls by a single hair.
(The Way of Perfection, ch. 16)

So then reading Psalms becomes reading odes of love, and the Gospels and the Eucharist become our only comforts while Christ is in the heavenly places before the Father, preparing a room for each of us. Teresa when advising on how to pray the Our Father says at the very least to remember who taught it. Think of Him and your prayers are that much more pleasing to God. How sweet then will be the company of saints and angels who are his friends. Yet we love the sinners too, perhaps even more than saints, for we know that Christ rejoices over that one lost sheep more than all 99! Friends are unite by what the love, so our love and the love of Christ must be the same, in object and (with divine help) in strength.


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Loose thoughts about marriage

All the recent headlines have been mildly distressing. I'm thinking about the lady who stopped an late-term abortion ban and the Supreme Court's decision in favor of same-sex "marriage". I just saw World War Z today and the way the zombies multiply and spread brought to mind how rapidly false opinion about marriage and sexuality are spreading in the world today.

Where does one begin? One could just look at oneself. Where did I come from? Ultimately this question leads back to God, but even before that it leads to one's parents: a man and a woman. Yes, every single person alive in the world today came to be from the union of a man and a woman. Unfortunately, with the efforts throughout the world today to isolate personal union and the sexual union required for offspring, there are probably a number of individuals throughout the world who have parents that have never met. (That's kind of crazy.) More commonly, one finds children who have never known their parents. This is not bizarre, but it is tragic.

Every child is the result of a sexual union of a man and a woman. Two men cannot unite in such a way that a child will come about--there cannot be a sexual union. If marriage is somehow related to sexual union, then same-sex marriage is really a puzzle. Sex has nothing to do with it. What should it have to do with anything? Two persons of the same sex can certainly be friends, even the greatest of friends, but marriage has no place here. That doesn't make any sense.

Does sex need to enter the conversation? The phrase "same-sex" is thrown around all the time, but no one ever says what is so special about such friendships that they should be given the name marriage. It is sex, isn't it? If not, then why wouldn't a whole monastery declare that they are all married to each other? Perhaps they would say something like that in metaphor, but it would not be literal. Marriage is somehow related to the sexual. So is it through having (or wanting to have) a "sexual partner" that one is now eligible for marriage? Something doesn't make any sense.

Perhaps there are some homosexuals who hold that fornication is a sin and therefore want to be wed so as not to break this precept of natural law. That would be an interesting case, perhaps one that is not so far gone as others. But most of the homosexuals I know do not see fornication as a sin, and, consequently, even the idea of calling it "marriage" is really just a formality or a way to get government benefits.

Is sex required for civil marriages anyway? Consummation certain plays a role in the Church's law concerning marriage, but if it is no way involved, then what exactly is a civil marriage? [Goes and researches definition of marriage in law...] Well, as far as I can tell, there is just a list of a rights and responsibilities that go with it. In the one list I found, no mention was made of sex. Looking at adultery laws, it looks like only 23 states treat it as a crime, with penalties varying from a life sentence (Michigan) to a $10 fine (Maryland). Regardless, the trends seem to be in favor of a sexual license that extends beyond anything by the name of marriage.

It's children. It is often said in favor of same-sex marriages, "What about children two moms or two dads?" That is probably the best question to be asking. I want to defend natural marriage on the basis that it is ordered to the bringing forth and upbringing of children, so they must enter the conversation. My objection to same-sex marriage on this point: Homosexual acts are sinful. Those who publicly admit to engaging in such acts are likely to teach that they are morally acceptable. They are likely to teach this to their children. This is bad. There are plenty of other sins that parents teach their children, but this is one more. I'll have to think about this more. And pray.

Pronunciation can be difficult

And the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the E'phraimites. And when any of the fugitives of E'phraim said, "Let me go over," the men of Gilead said to him, "Are you an E'phraimite?" When he said, "No," they said to him, "Then say Shibboleth," and he said, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it right; then they seized him and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. And there fell at that time forty-two thousand of the E'phraimites. (Judges 12:5-6)


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Further division of the first 10 Psalms

After seeing St. Thomas' neat division of the Psalms, I wondered just how well his division really works in characterizing the Psalms in each section. So naturally I looked to his commentary on the first Psalm to see if he further divides the first chunk of 10, but alas there did not appear to be a further division. Somewhat disappointed, I moved on. Today I happened to open his commentary on the second Psalm and behold, I found the division. I should have paid more attention to the first line of the commentary on 1: "This Psalm is distinguished against the whole work, for it does not have a title but is (as it were) the title of the whole work." So Psalm 2 is where the division becomes effective.

• State and process of the human kind in general (1)
• Tribulations of man (2-10)
• Invokes divine help against tribulations (2-7)
• Gives thanks for being heard (8-9)
• Thanks for all given to whole human race (8)
• Thanks for what is given to him be destruction of his enemies
• He shows the confidence received (10)

• In tribulations, a man prays for 2 reasons
• That he might be freed (2-6)
• That his enemies might decrease (7)

•  In praying that he might be freed
• Implores help against those troubling him openly (2-4)
• Recalls their machinations (2)
• Implores help against those rising up now (3)
• Trusting he is heard, he invites others to trust God (4)
• Implores help against those trying to deceive him (5-6)
• He prays against them (5)
• He prays his fall might be fixed (6)

Rereading the Psalms with these things in mind, in looks as though this outline does indeed capture the shape of the Psalms. The difficulty is that so many other things are mentioned in the Psalms that it is hard to say what about it is distinctive enough to characterize its place within the larger division. For example, 7 is supposed to be about the punishment of the enemies. The first part asks to be saved from them, the next is about how he should be punished if he has done wrong, and then the rest is about that. Hm, I suppose that's plenty. Even the part where he says "if I have done wrong," this is showing that he does not want his enemies to suffer because he is malicious, but because he loves justice, willing to suffer the same if he deserves it. The division also makes some sense out of Psalm 8's place. Within the first 80 or so Psalms, only a few manage to go the whole way through without mentioning enemies of some sort. Psalm 8 just barely mentions them, "thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes, to still the enemy and the avenger."

One more interesting note. St. Thomas says in his commentary on 6 that each of the Penitential Psalms corresponds to one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Surely you have seven and seven, but it would take more reading to see how they relate (St. Thomas is not more specific).

Recap of Genesis through Numbers

The whole motion of the Pentateuch is toward the fitting worship of God. First God establishes the heavens and the earth and then man, who of all his creatures is most able to share in God's glory. Yet he falls, becomes "unclean" by eating from the tree which the Lord forbade. So the entire human family must leave the Paradise in which he walked with God. Nonetheless, immediately there is an attempt to return to God. Abel offers due sacrifice. In the time of Seth's son, God is praised by name. With Noah comes the first "cleansing", or even "baptism" as one of the apostles calls it. The whole human race is brought into a covenant with God. Noah even brought with him seven each of the clean birds for the sake of giving God due worship.

Then God takes Abraham, his chosen servant, and promises that all nations will be blessed through him. Melchizedek the priest of God Most High and king of Salem offers bread and wine to God in worship, looking forward to the elements which Christ will turn into himself, the most perfect sacrifice. And there is the sacrifice of Isaac, which is done in obedience to God's will. This looks to the future gift of God who gives his Son for our sins. It is also on Mount Moriah, the place where the Lord's temple will be established in the time of Solomon. Isaac begets Jacob, who is Israel. Israel becomes the father of 12 sons, the 12 tribes of Israel who will be God's chosen people, chosen to give him due worship.

In Exodus, God calls Moses and teaches him His Name and charges to free the people. He wants to free this people so that they might worship him and not the idols in Egypt. So in the first half of that book, the Lord and Pharaoh contend, but Pharaoh fails to allow the people to do all that is required to worship God. For God demands all the people, that they go a three day journey, and that they take all that they might need to worship. After the plagues, each one of which teaches the Egyptians more and more that the Lord is God, Israel is free to leave Egypt. But before the leave, God teaches them about Passover according to which they are to worship him. So they leave and then Moses gives a song of praise to God.

At Mount Sinai, Moses receives the law from God. At the head of this law are the 3 commandments about God: You are to worship no gods before him, You shall not use his name in vain, You shall keep holy the sabbath. Only after these does he give laws that pertain to the community, for the whole existence of this community is ordered to the worship of God. As Moses stays with God alone, he receives instructions for building the tabernacle, the place where God will dwell and be adored. When Moses comes down Sinai, he sees the people engaged in idolatry, the act most contrary to the purpose for which they were set apart. The idol is destroyed, Moses speak to God once more, and then work begins to construct the tabernacle of the Lord.

Then begins the Book of Leviticus, named after the Levites who are to be the priests among the Israelites.

• Laws about Sacrifices (1-7)
• Narrative (8-10)
• Aaron and his sons are ordained (8)
• They offer their first sacrifices (9)
• Nadab and Abihu offer unholy fire and are consumed (10)
• Laws about what is clean (11-15)
• Reparation for sins (16)
• Further laws, many pertaining to worship (17-27)
• Sacrifices to be made at the tabernacle, no idolatry (17)
• Laws against unnatural relations, and against sacrifice to Moloch (18)
• "You shall be holy." Mostly a reiteration of the commandments. (19)
• Punishments for laws in chapter 18 (20)
• Purity of priests and sacrifices (21-22)
• Feasts (23)
• Providing for the tabernacle (24a)
• Narrative: A blasphemer born of a Jew and an Egyptian is put to death (24b)
• Laws pertaining to Jubilee (25)
• Promises of the Lord to Israel (26)
• Values of persons and things (27)

So the few times that this book goes from precepts to narrative, there is some kind of act against the Lord. Either they bring something foreign into the worship of the Lord, as Aaron's sons use the unholy fire, or they  take holy things (such as the Lord's Name) and use them for purpose other than worship, as in the case of the blasphemer.

Then begins the Book of Numbers, which details the 40 years spent in the desert. It begins with a census of the Israelites who left Egypt but ends with another census of those who will enter the promised land, and no one who was counted in the first census is counted in the second one (except Joshua and Caleb). All those who were afraid to inherit the promised land did not receive it. Something worth noting is that whenever the Lord becomes angry with Israel, he considers destroying all of Israel and making a nation out of Moses, but each time Moses prays that the Lord be merciful to this people. Moses does this even though later, in his anger with this people, he will end up acting in such a way that he will not be permitted to enter the promised land.

I haven't yet outlined the Book of Numbers, but will do so soon. I will also write about the trial at Meribah where Moses lost his earthly reward, where he failed to speak to the Rock as the Lord commanded.

"I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness." (1 Corinthians 10:1-5)

Eventually I will write about Christ and the Psalms.

Learning how to read Scripture from Scripture

There's a passage from St. Paul which I found quoted by St. Jerome in his commentary on the Psalms and Origen in his commentary on Genesis:

"And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things." (1 Corinthians 2:13)

The same passage is translated in very different ways in different translations, but this translation makes the most sense with the way they interpret it (Jerome and Origen seem pretty capable figuring out what it should say). Whenever they cite this passage, they go on to manifest the spiritual meaning of a text by looking at where the same sign is used elsewhere with the same spiritual significance. This is just one of the many ways that Scripture itself teaches us how to read Scripture. St. Augustine in his work On Christian Doctrine and his De Sermone Domini in Monte, goes through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. After the fear of the Lord, he names piety and describes it as the gift by which we receive the Sacred Scripture as truly inspired and submit ourselves in order to learn what the Spirit will teach us through it.

There is a place in one of the prophets that I always found somewhat comical, but it seems to teach that one must understand the literal meaning before the spiritual meaning.
He showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel..." (Amos 7:7-8)
and again
Thus the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me, "The end has come upon my people..." (Amos 8:1-2)

In both of these passages, the Lord shows the prophet Amos some object and asks him what it is. Amos responds with the literal answer right away: "a plumb line" or "a basket of fruit". And only when he has grasped what is manifest, does the Lord then show him what is hidden in it as in a sign. Now to compare spiritual things with spiritual... (I wasn't planning this, but I noticed it)

Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet (i.e. plumb line) in the hand of Zerubbabel." (Zechariah 4:8-10)
Now it will be plenty of time before I understand the words of the prophets very well, but here we see the image of the plumb line being used, first in Amos and now in Zechariah. Before, the plumb line was in the hand of the Lord and here we see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. So it seems that a likeness is to be made between them. That Zerubbabel is a sign of Christ is indeed the Lord, the one who laid the foundation and will make things right. Looking around at this entire chapter from Zechariah, it looks like the much of it involves asking the prophet what he sees and him asking what it means, similar to what happened in Amos. When I return to this part of Scripture, I will have to go very slowly and hopefully I will make use of what the Fathers teach about these books.

St. Thomas' Division of Matthew

He starts with this major division:

• Entrance of Christ's humanity into the world (1-2)
• Generation (1)
• Manifestation of his generation (2)
• His course of life (3-20)
• Preparation for teaching  (4)
• Baptism
• Temptation
• Teaching itself (5-20)
• Doctrine of Christ (5-12)
• Power of this doctrine (13-16)
• The end to which it leads (17-20)
• His departure (21-28)
• Certain preambles (21-25)
• Provocation of persecutors (21-23)
• Provoked by his glory (21)
• Provoked by his knowledge  (22)
• Provoked by his justice (23)
• Strengthening of disciples (24)
• Judgment (25, he starts talking about this in 24)
• Passion of Christ (26-27)
• Things done to him by the Jews (26)
• Things done to him by the Gentiles (27)
• Triumph of the Lord's Resurrection (28)

Just so as not to make the table too big, the further subdivision of the section on his teaching itself will be below:

• Doctrine of Christ (5-12)
• Doctrine for all (5-9)
•  Proposed in words (5-7)
• Confirmed through miracles (8-9)
• By which men are freed from bodily evils (8)
• And from spiritual evils (9)
• Institution/instruction of ministers (10)
• Refutation of adversaries (11-12)
• Power of this Doctrine (13-16)
• Shown in words (13)
• Shown in deeds (14-16)
• ostendit ad quos effectus se extendat per similitudinem factorum (14)
• ostendit sufficientiam evangelicae doctrinae (15)
• quomodo in puritate conservanda sit (16)
• End to which it leads: future glory (17-20)
• Demonstrated in Transfiguration (17)
• Departure to future glory (18-20)
• How one is to come to it (18-19)
• The common way (18)
• The way of perfection (19)
• Reprehends those who seek it inordinately (20)

That's about as orderly as it gets. Eventually, I will have to take the time to read his commentary in full as it is still not clear to me all of those parts of that Gospel are about what he says it is. It would be worth the time it takes to reread the whole Gospel of Matthew with this division in mind.

Maurice Durufle, Quatre motets sur des thèmes grégoriens, Op. 10

I was reading about Gregorian chant the other day and fell upon this. It's not chant, but it is very nice.

1. Ubi Caritas
2. Tota Pulchra Es
3. Tu Es Petrus
4. Tantum Ergo

Gospel of Matthew, first attempt

Whereas for Genesis and Exodus, it was possible to make a division of the text based on the title, this text does not seem to allow for that. The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. Matthew. In my Greek edition, it just says Kata Matthaion. About a month or so ago I saw a threefold division, so I'll start with that and then consider further:

• Christ entering the world
• Christ in the world
• Christ leaving the world

That's exhaustive. But what does it mean for him to "enter the world"? In some way he does this by his conception, another way by his birth, and then finally by his preaching. Since the gospel is the good news, perhaps the division should be where he begins to preach the gospel. And then when is he leaving the world? Certainly it is in his passion, where he has ceased to preach. Perhaps before that, when he celebrates the passover with his disciples. Perhaps even when he enters Jerusalem? But he enters and leaves several times. We'll take the passover as the division, since he stops his public preaching here. So it seems we can offer a division according to the title, Gospel, which is very close to the above division.

• Christ preparing to preach the gospel (1-4, it is part way through 4 that he begins to preach, but the calling of the apostles at 4:18-22 seems to have more to do with preparation and then 4:23-25 is like a synopsis of the following chapters)
• Christ preaching the gospel (5-25)
• Christ no longer preaching, yet fulfilling the gospel (26-28)

Since the middle chunk is the largest and least familiar (the first and third chunks are mostly covered by the mysteries of the Rosary), that is the one that requires further division. First, a brief summary.

• Sermon on the Mount (5-7)
• Preaching down from the Mount (8-9)
• Teaching the Twelve (10)
• Preaching in the Cities (11-12)
• Preaching in Parables (13)
• The Leaven of the Pharisees? (14-16)
• Transfiguration (17) 
• More preaching... (18-20)
• Into Jerusalem (21-23)
• Mount of Olives (24-25)

So that is pretty rough to begin with, and a grouping of those sections isn't standing out. I've always found it difficult to grasp the Gospels as wholes. The beginning and the end of the most of the Gospels is what is often most distinct about them and those parts are easily recognized, but their middle sections cover many of the same events. Some of them are distinct and happen in a certain order (calling the Apostles, the Transfiguration, he begins to talk about his passion, he enters Jerusalem) but there are many events (teaching, healing) which seem as though they could go in any order without difficulty. In order to eventually grasp each of the Gospels in their entirety, I will start by reading some more about the Gospel of Matthew and the synoptics together.

Since what is described in the Book of Exodus is all a sign of what is described here, it is far more important to understand this book than Exodus. I have certainly read it more times than Exodus, yet it remains more difficult. All right, I'll try this again later.

Update: Already I'm finding some interesting things. Here's a quote from a Wikipedia footnote:
Robert L. Thomas Three views on the origins of the Synoptic Gospels 2002 p255, and p322 "Farnell 's third axiom notes, quoting Linnemann, that the reason for four independent Gospels stems from the legal principle of Deuteronomy 19:15b: "[O]n the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed."" 

Translation practice: Ecclesiastes and St. Jerome

The Book of Qohelet, 5:9-6:8

    The greedy man will not be filled with money, and who loves riches will not take fruit from them; therefore this is vanity. Where many are the resources, many also are those who eat them. And what does this profit the possessor, except that he sees riches with his eyes? Sleep is sweet to the worker, whether he sleeps a little or a lot; however abundance of riches does allow him to sleep.
    There is another base sickness which I have seen under the sun: riches wickedly kept by there owner. For they perish in the worst affliction: he begot a son who will be in the greatest poverty. Just as he came out naked from his mother's womb, so he will return, and he will take nothing with him from his labor. Utterly miserable is his sickness. How came he to return so? Therefore what profits it him to labor at the wind? He eats in darkness all the days of his life, both with many cares and with trouble and sorrow.
    And so this seemed good to me: that he eat whatever and drink, and enjoy delight from his labor which he labored under the sun, for the number of the days of his life which God has given him. And this is his part. And every man to whom God gave riches and substance, he has also granted power, that he may eat of them and enjoy his part and be gladdened out of his labor. This is a gift of God. For he will not remember the days of his life, by which God would take his heart by delights.
    There is another evil which I have seen under the sun, and the same happens often to men: A man to which God has given riches and substance and honor, and nothing is lacking to his life from those which he desires; yet God has not granted that he may eat from it, but a foreign man will devout it. This is vanity and a great misery.
    If he begot a hundred something children and lived many years and had many days of life, and his soul did not use the goods of his substance and lacked a funeral: about this I I pronounce that it would be better if he had been prematurely born. For he comes to nothing and proceeds to darkness and his name will be destroyed in oblivion. He does not see the sun and does not know the difference between good and evil. Even if he lived two thousand years but did not come to enjoy his goods, do not all hurry on to one place?
    All the labor of man is in his mouth, but his soul is not filled. Who has greater wisdom than a fool? And who is poor except he who heads to that place?
---

From the Commentary of St. Jerome the Priest on Ecclesiastes

    "Every man to which God has given riches and substance, he also conceded to him that he may eat from them and take is part and enjoy of his labor. This is a gift of God. For he will not remember the days of his life, for God occupies his heart in joy." For his comparison, who eats his resources in the darkness of cares and carries along his life's weariness to die, he says it is better to be him who enjoys present things. For in that there is actually a little delight in enjoying; but in the other there is only great anxiety. And he returns to causes, by which he is able to enjoy the gift of God in riches.  For "he will not remember the days of his life."
    God calls him in the joy of his heart: he will not be in sorrow, will not be vexed by knowledge, and he is charmed by joy and pleasure for the present. But better (as the Apostle says) is the spiritual food and spiritual drink given by the Lord in order to understand and see goodness in his every work, because we are able to contemplate good things by enormous labor and true study. And this is our part, that we rejoice in our study and labor. Which, although it is good, yet "until Christ manifests our life," it is not yet completely good.
    "Every labor of man is in his mouth, and his soul will not even be filled. For what is greater for a wise man than for a fool? What is for a poor man except to know that he goes against life?" Every thing which man works on in this world is consumed by the mouth, rubbed away by teeth and is given to be scattered by the wind. And when he is delighted a little in the throat, as long as he seems to be bestowed pleasure, so long is he contained in the throat.
    And after all this, his soul is not fill up with eating. Either he desires, that he may eat, that both the wise and poor man be unable to eat without food, he seeks nothing else except that he may be able to sustain the organ pipe of his little body and not perish by starvation; or that the soul take no usefulness from the refreshment of his body, and food for both the wise man and the fool is common and the poor man goes to that place where he examines his resources.
    However this is better to understand about the Ecclesiastic Man, who is learned in heavenly writings, that he has every labor "in his and mouth and his soul will not be filled," as long as desires to learn always. And in this he has more wisdom than the fool; because when he thinks himself to be a poor man (the poor man called "blessed" in the Gospel) he speeds on to comprehend those which are of life, and walkes about the strict and narrow way which leads to life, and is poor from evil works, and knows where to find Christ, who is life, and there remains.

Divisio Textus for Exodus

Given that the text is called Exodus, or the "going out", perhaps it would be fitting to divide the text according to the leavings that occur in it. A few come to mind right away: Moses going out from his mother at the beginning, Moses going out of Egypt near the beginning, (then after returning) Moses and all of the Israelites going out of Egypt (the central event), and then Moses going out from the people to see the Lord and going out from the Lord to teach and govern the people (this happens several times, but the most important one is probably when he encounters the idolatry of the people).

• Israel in Egypt (1-14)
• Israel out of Egypt (15-40)

All right, that's seems like the most significant divide. Often a story is characterized by the major conflict in it: these two parts have different conflicts. The first one is Pharaoh against Moses and the Lord, the second one is the chosen people against Moses and the Lord. Yet this conflict ends after the sorrow with the Golden Calf, so that may be the next place to make a division. Let's see... At chapter 19, "on the third new moon" is when the Israelites have reached the wilderness of Sinai. If my Hebrew Calendar reading skills are working correctly, that means it is 40 days between leaving Egypt and entering Sinai. Then later on in chapter 24 it says that "Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights" (v. 18). Then chapter 32 is the Calf incident. Then he goes back up the mountain and is there another 40 days and nights (34:28). At the end of that chapter he comes back down and the work on the tabernacle is begun, and finally erected at the beginning of the second year. So:

• Exodus to Sinai: 40 days (15-18)
• Moses and the people sing (15)
• The Lord feeds the people with manna and quail (16)
• The Lord gives water; war with Amalek (17)
• Jethro counsels the institution of judges
• First Ascent of Mount Sinai: 40 days (19-31)
• Approach (19)
• Spoken to all:
• 10 Commandments (20:1-20)
• Spoken to Moses:
• Instructions about idolatry and an altar of earth (20:21-26)
• More ordinances (21-23)
• About slaves (21:1-11)
• About civil matters, with punishments (21:12-22:19)
• About religious matters, no punishments by men (22:20-23:33)
• Moses, Aaron, and Aaron's sons worship (24:1-11)
• Moses returns to the Lord alone (24:12-18)
• Tabernacle instructions (25-31)
• Golden Calf (32)
• Second Ascent of Mount Sinai: 40 days (33-34)
• Moses argues for the people and sees God (33)
• God renews the covenant with Moses and gives laws pertaining to worship (34:1-28)
• Moses returns, glowing from his encounter with the Lord (34:29-35)
• Building the Tabernacle (35-40)

Before the first ascent there are all sorts of conflict: the people are hungry and thirsty and they wish they had never left Egypt in the first place. This conflict reaches its peak in Golden Calf, where they commit the greatest sin against God and 3000 of them are slain. This is the end of the conflict, for when Moses next asks something of the people for the Lord, they give him far more than is needed. Now to go back to the first part of Exodus, here is a basic division, just for the sake of completion:

• The Exposition
• Pharaoh oppresses the Hebrews (1)
• Moses leaves Egypt (2)
• Moses meets the Lord (3-4)
• "I am who am."
• The Execution
• Moses and Pharaoh (5-10)
• The institution of Passover (11-13)
• The Exodus (14)

That division could probably use some further explanation, but it gives some immediate intelligibility to the text. If the Exodus (the chosen people leaving Egypt) is the central event in the book, then the text should be divided around that. "The Exposition" involves events necessary for that Exodus, yet one would not say it had in anyway begun, since Moses (the Lord's chosen instrument of the Exodus) is not in the place of oppression for most of it. Once Moses is back in Egypt, the Exodus is his sole concern. After chapter 10, Moses no longer speaks to Pharaoh, so that seemed like a fair place for the next division. Also, the Passover (which is the perpetual commemoration of the Exodus) is a significant enough event to merit its own place. To divide further, a natural spot would be when the plagues begin, which is also after a genealogy (the main feature which divides the Book of Genesis). There is a very brief genealogy of Moses in chapter 18 which precedes the third new moon, so it is possible that the genealogies here are also meant to divide.

To talk about the significance of this whole book in the light of Christ would take a long time. That the Exodus is the chief sign of our redemption from the Old Testament is emphasized by the current Easter Vigil liturgy which has the following instruction:
"At least three readings should beread from the Old Testament, both from the Law and from the Prophets, and their respective Responsorial Psalms should be sung. Never, moreover, should the reading of chapter 14 of Exodus with its canticle [Ex. 15] be omitted." (Roman Missal, 3rd Edition, p. 364)
There is plenty to be said about Christ being our Paschal (i.e. Passover) lamb and the first-born of all creation (Col. 1:15). There is the revelation of the Lord's name and the gift of the 10 commandments. It seems one could use the Book of Exodus in its entirety as a guide for putting together a rather complete Catechism which would cover the main aspects any Catechism needs to cover (Creed, Sacraments, Commandments, Prayer).

Perhaps some of the most obscure (and seemingly obsolete) parts are those concerning the ordination of the priests or construction of the tabernacle. This will seem the case to anyone not aware that everything in the Old Testament is a sign pointing to the New Covenant. The following page has articles from St. Thomas are great for at least the beginning of an explanation of such texts:
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2102.htm
Article 4 for the tabernacle and Article 5 for the laws concerning the priesthood are the ones in particular that I have in mind. The bodies of those article give a general reason for why there are such commandments, but then in the replies to the objections there are many particular reasons (both literal and spiritual) for each individual precept and instruction.

The 10 commandments and the revelation of the Lord's name are each wonderful for many reasons. The 10 commandments lay out the principles of our entire moral life (practical philosophy) and the Lord's name teaches us about how entirely other God is from every other creature (speculative philosophy). To write on these extensively would be to write about the whole of philosophy.

The next division I write up will be the Gospel of Matthew and then, some time later, the Book of Leviticus.

St. Thomas' Proem to the Psalms

Causes of the Book of Psalms

• material: all of theology; and since all divinity is found in Christ, the matter of this book is Christ and his members
• creation
• governance
• reparation, that is, Christ
• glorification
• form or mode: deprecative/laudative
• He gives other modes used in Scripture: narrative, hortatory, dispute
• end: prayer, i.e, the raising of man's mind to God (done in 4 ways)
• admire the loftiness of his power
• excellence of eternal beatitude
• divine goodness and holiness
• divine justice
• agent/author: the Holy Spirit

He then makes other divisions and explanations: four ways in which this book is the word of glory, three ways of prophecy, three translations available. He lays down an important rule from St. Jerome, namely, that "events are to be expounded as prefiguring something about Christ or the Church." He says this after bringing up a council which rejected as heresy the position that these Psalms do not speak explicitly about Christ.

 St. Thomas then looks at 3 ways of dividing the Psalms.

• The first is by dividing them into 70 and 80, numbers which come from 7 and 8. 7 signifies the present life, and 8 the next life. Again, 7 signifies the Old Law (for they observe the 7th day) and 8 signifies the New Law (which observes the 8th day)
• The second is the five-book division discussed in the earlier post: he basically disregards it
• The third is a threefold division into 50 psalms each, corresponding to the three states of the faithful: penance, justice, and eternal glory
• The state of penance is signified by the tribulations suffered by David
• Twofold attack and tribulation is prayed against
• Attack against the entire people of God (Ps. 41-50)
• Attack against the just man
• By persecutors in temporal order
• From special persons
• Absalom, i.e., loved ones (Ps. 1-10)
• Saul, i.e., outsiders (Ps. 11-20)
• From the whole people (Ps. 21-30)
• By those who live unjustly (Ps. 31-40)

 Well, that's the division he gives of the first 50. Thankfully, he wrote a commentary on the Psalms through 54, so we have his division of the next 50 as well (in his commentary on psalm 51). Even without that, it will take some time going through the psalms more carefully to see if what St. Thomas says corresponds well to the text. Certainly I had noticed a theme of tribulation. It always seemed like there was a just man (perhaps a sinner in need, but one who trusted God), some sort of enemy, and then God.

Before closing this, it is worth remembering the end of the Psalms: to raise the mind to God, to be united with him. Let us pray for this end.

A bonus text from St. Gregory the Great on Ezekiel, related to the heart: "the voice of psalmody if it is done with the intention of the heart, prepares the way for almighty God through it to the heart, so that he may pour in mysteries or the grace of compunction, by an intent soul or prophecy."