The Faith Explained with Cale Clarke - Learning the Catholic Faith

If all Israel was a “kingdom of priests”, why do we have a ministerial priesthood in the Catholic Church? Plus: A fun Q&A mailbag question about angels.

God is about to reveal his 10 Commandments to Moses on the holy Mountain. There is thunder, an earthquake, a dark cloud, and fire. A powerful trumpet blast. And all of these things reveal something about exactly who God is.

In the business world, they call it “key man risk”. If a CEO burns out or dies, the whole organization falls apart. That’s what’s happening with Moses: he’s trying to do the work of 10 men, and he’s falling into the devil’s trap of trying to be like God in all the wrong ways.

After plagues and battles, what a relief to see the camp of Israel as a quiet place of family, fellowship, and ordinary life! We, too, must find God in the middle of everyday life...or we’ll never find him at all.

Grumblers want to pass judgment on Moses and stone him to death. Speaking of rocks, God tells Moses to strike a rock. Water pours out for God’s people to drink. St Paul later said, “the rock was Christ”. But what does that mean? Let’s rock and roll!

Have you ever had the experience of failing a test and having to take it over again? In Exodus 17, we see that God sometimes has to “re-test” his children again and again, before they can graduate to the next stage of the spiritual life.

Cale shows how the manna given to the Israelites in Exodus foreshadows the new and far greater “manna” given by Jesus: the Eucharist.

The wilderness was like going to Oxford, Cambridge, or Harvard: a graduate education in the inner life. Test after test from God. This time? It’s hunger. God responds with the Manna and Quail. Will the Israelites learn the lesson that you can’t stockpile grace? It’s doled out daily, on demand, just in time...it’s the “Manna Mentality”.

The parched Israelites attempt to drink the desert waters at Marah, but they prove bitter and brackish. God gives a miraculous tree to make the bitter water sweet. Likewise, the Cross of Jesus Christ makes the bitterness of life endurable—and even sweet—as we share in his sufferings.

Women helped save Moses throughout his life, including his sister Miriam. In the same way, another Miriam—Mary—is there at the key moments of salvation wrought by the new Moses, Jesus Christ.

Cale examines the alleged discovery of Egyptian chariot wheels at the bottom of the Red Sea. Just the (arte) facts, Ma’am!

Before God parts the Red Sea, the pillar of cloud and fire separates the Egyptians from the Israelites. On one side is darkness, and on the other is light. Jesus is the light of the world, and one’s response to him determines whether one lives in spiritual darkness or in the light.

The mighty Egyptian army roars towards the Israelites, who are trapped against the Red Sea. When your back is against the wall (or the water!), God will rise up and act on your behalf, just as he did for Israel.  

Some Israelites would rather return to slavery under Pharaoh than serve God in freedom in the wilderness. We’re faced with a similar choice today. 

A direct route to the promised land would have only taken 10 days, not 40 years. Why send the people through the wilderness, then? God wanted to both A) humble, and B) test his people. Would they be loyal to him or not? He does the same with us today.

As the people of God are on the road to the Promised Land, Yahweh demands the consecration of the Israelites’ firstborn and first fruits. Why? It’s a reminder that God must be first in every area of our lives, and it’s no less true today.

The terrifying, final plague descends on the Egyptians: the death of the firstborn. Was God unjust, unfair, and unnecessarily cruel in doing this? PLUS: In our Q&A mailbag segment, Cale answers a question about the darkness that descended on the land when Jesus died. Did this really happen?

As Catholics, we treasure the Catechism of the Catholic Church and beloved older versions like the famous Baltimore Catechism. Did you know that Moses basically created the very first Catechism in the book of Exodus? Plus: a listener question about whether or not Mary experienced labor pains when Jesus was born.

On today’s episode of The Exodus Series on The Faith Explained, Cale answers the question of why God institutes two separate feasts: Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The answer? One concerns initial salvation, and the other concerns sanctification: holiness, becoming like God. “Be holy, as I am holy”, says the Lord in the Old Covenant. Jesus says, “Be perfect, as...

The Israelites must slaughter and consume an unblemished lamb, foreshadowing the sacrifice of the sinless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. We are likewise commanded to consume his flesh and blood sacramentally in the Eucharist.

The death of the Egyptian firstborn at the stroke of midnight means the tide has turned, and the “gods” of Egypt are decimated. Yahweh has won, and the dawn of his salvation is close at hand.

“Lights Out!” The 9th plague (darkness) is a direct attack on Ra, the Egyptian “sun god”.  Only the homes of God’s people have light. We, too, must shine like stars amidst the moral and spiritual darkness of the age, reflecting Christ, the Light of the World.

God doesn’t send the plague of locusts just to “bug” the Egyptians. Moses is reminded to teach the next generations about Yahweh’s deeds of power. In the same way, we must pass on the Catholic faith to the next generation. But, how?

Just for the “hail” of it, Yahweh rains down hailstones on Egypt. He thus reveals himself as the mighty “Storm God” and announces his control over the land of Egypt. For the first time, people are killed by the plagues, but Pharaoh’s heart remains harder than the stones falling from the heavens.

Yahweh reaches directly into Pharaoh’s heart to harden it… Is God taking away his free will? Plus: our Q&A segment addresses the difference between marriage annulments and priests leaving the priesthood.