Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Benedict XVI dedicated today’s general audience Catechesis to the figure of Moses who ‘carried out his function as mediator between Gospel and Israel, making himself the bearer of the divine words and commands for his people.’

Speaking to pilgrims gathered at the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square this morning, the Pope discussed the way in which Moses prayed.

According to the Scriptures, the Pope said, he speaks with God ‘as if he were speaking to a friend.’

“Through his intercessory prayer, Moses grows in deeper knowledge of the Lord and His mercy and becomes capable of a love which extends to the total gift of self,” the Pope said.

The Pope emphasised that Moses especially acts as intercessor when the people ask Aaron to build the golden calf while they are waiting for the prophet who has ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Tables of the Law.

“Tired of following a path with a God who is invisible now that Moses the mediator has also gone, the people demand a tangible, palpable presence of the Lord and find an accessible God, within the reach of human beings, in Aaron’s molten metal calf,” the Holy Father said. “This is a constant temptation on the path of Faith: avoiding the divine mystery by building a comprehensible god that corresponds to our own preconceptions and plans.”

As he greeted those gathered this morning, the Pope reserved special mention for Croatian pilgrims, who he said he will see again next Saturday and Sunday, when he travels to Zagreb to celebrate the National Day of Catholic Croatian Families.

“I look forward to this meeting with joy and invite you to pray that my visit to that beloved land will produce much spiritual fruit and that Christian families might be the salt of the earth and the light of the world,” the Holy Father said.