Significance of Red Sea

As I look at the verdant hills across the road a thought springs up – the architect and designer of creation. The marvels of creation speak volumes of the architect and the designer behind them.
 
I reminiscence the genesis of how God, the architect planned everything and created (Genesis chapters 1-2). In the Gospel, St. John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was at the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him, not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (Jn 1:1-5).
 
Life and death are the two sides of the same coin. And it was when man had crossed all limits, life was destroyed. The seriousness of the offense was such that God regretted having created the crown of His creation. 
 
Sin had abounded and man was in no way willing to relinquish. God had to change his plan to save man and offered to send His Only Begotten Son into the world through Virgin Mary his chosen instrument. The second person of the Trinity, God the Son, took human form, to fashion us into his image and likeness, to share in the infinite love of the Divine Trinity. 

Yes, God’s eternal Master Plan, is to save humankind from sin and shame to restore God’s Kingdom through true liberation, his saving plan. 
 
As we enter into the holy of holy days, the Paschal Mystery whose origins we find in the book of Exodus chapters 12-15, begins with the unleavened bread and killing of the spotless lamb, and putting of the blood on the doorpost, giving us an account of the journey of Israelites who were slaves in bondage in Egypt and how God under the leadership of Moses, brings them out through the red sea, into freedom, into the Promised Land. 
 
When the angel of death came down to strike the firstborn of the Egyptians, it was the blood that saved the families from death and destruction. Because as instructed by the Lord the blood of the lamb was applied on the doorposts and lintel, the blood of the Lamb became the stronghold, the cover, the Passover symbol. The blood of the sacrificial Lamb is Life and a Covenantal Love. It was the shedding of the blood of the firstborn of the Egyptians that soften the heart of Pharaoh, who let the Israelites go with all their possessions.
 
The passing over of the Israelites through the Red Sea has a resemblance to the Paschal Mystery of Jesus beginning with Maundy Thursday. The book of Exodus chapters 12-15, gives ample evidence and confirms the journey of Jesus which led to his crucifixion. For example, the Lamb, the Bread, the Blood, and the Red Sea are associated with Jesus. Such as Jesus is the Lamb and the Bread. His is the Blood and the Red Sea–which started in the Garden of Gethsemane till to the shedding of his last drop of Holy Blood pierced by the lance from his side.

The scourging at the Pillar, the sea of blood, as he profusely bled while walking his way to Calvary laden with the heavy cross. The blood oozed out as he was stripped of his garments. The nailing on the cross and even till the last drop from his pierced side is indeed a sign of the Red Sea. It is a unique and mysterious sign.
 
The Constitution ‘Sacrosanctum Concilium’ says, “At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again… a memorial of His death and resurrection.”
 
May this sacrifice be a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, and fill our minds with grace, to have a pass over of/in our lives by partaking in the cup of dying to self.