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The biblical readings from the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus have a common theme: the love of Jesus Christ for people. Not the love of God in general that we find in the prophets, but the love of God made flesh. The heart of Jesus is the deepest place in His humanity, the place where all His humanity is concentrated and meets the Divinity, thus realizing the great mystery of God who became man; it is the wedding room where the betrothal of the king’s son takes place with the body born of the Virgin Mary and, thanks to her, with the whole Church (cf. Mt 22:2; Eph 5:32). If the entire humanity of Jesus is the source of the sacrament of salvation, then His heart is it specially.

The image of Jesus Christ with the heart on the palm or the outside of the chest did not help us to the piety of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, because we carry the Heart in the chest, and not outside or on the hand. His characteristic is that he moves everything, although he remains hidden and humble. Having already built the feast of the Sacred Heart on the solid rock of the mystery of the Incarnate Word, let us discard the doubts and restlessness that have kept some of us from drawing water from this source of salvation for a long time. The Sacred Heart is our cradle, we were all born there! One of the Psalms says the same about Zion: Everyone was born on it… This one and that one were born on it (Ps 87, 4-6); but our true Zion, that in which “all our springs are,” is the Heart of Jesus. We emerged from Him together with water and blood, that is, through Baptism and the Eucharist. Another psalm adds: The intentions of His heart – through the generations (Ps 33, 11); now we know what they are, or rather what the thoughts of His Heart are. We are the thoughts of His Heart! The thoughts of the Divine Heart are not abstract and fleeting like ours (my thoughts are not your thoughts – Is 55:8), they are always a reality; God thinks and everything exists. We are God’s thoughts that clothed themselves with flesh during birth and became sons in the Heart of Jesus; sons in the Son. Now these ideas are said to “endure from generation to generation,” that is, always; God does not abandon those whom He has begotten. which clothed themselves with flesh during birth and became sons in the Heart of Jesus; sons in the Son. Now these ideas are said to “endure from generation to generation,” that is, always; God does not abandon those whom He has begotten. which clothed themselves with flesh during birth and became sons in the Heart of Jesus; sons in the Son. Now these ideas are said to “endure from generation to generation,” that is, always; God does not abandon those whom He has begotten.

There must be a reason why the Church recommends the Heart of Jesus to us, and not some other organ of His humanity, as a concrete sign of the mystery of His Divine-human love. So let’s look for this reason in the Holy Scriptures and human experience. For the Bible, the heart is the noblest and most important part of a person; it is an essential part of a person, the seat of spiritual life, and a privileged place of meeting with God. From the heart comes what pollutes, but also what sanctifies a person. True purity (cf. Mt 5:8) and true humility (cf. Mt 11:29) come from the heart. The heart embodies what we now refer to as our innermost self. With the cult of the Sacred Heart, we include the whole person of the Savior and are led to the source of His feelings and saving actions: You will draw water from the springs of salvation with joy (Is 12, 3). This special interest in the Heart of Jesus has its genesis in the New Testament at the moment of Christ’s death. The evangelist John, by assigning extraordinary and seemingly exaggerated importance to the piercing of Jesus’ side on the cross, broke the way that leads to the celebration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus;

Today, the heart does not represent in man all that it represented for the Holy Scriptures; indeed, its importance in everyday speech and the general feeling of men has remained unaltered, but all the rest, its noblest functions, which were at one time ascribed to it, have at the same time been transferred to the intelligence, the will, or even the brain. However, in our current way of showing the heart, there is a thing that helps us understand by analogy the meaning of the heart of Jesus. The heart is the engine of the whole body; life and death depend on him; it is present in the whole organism and causes it to vibrate according to its movements; blood from the whole body full of toxic waste flows into it and it cleans, oxygenates and distributes it to the most distant cells of the body. The same is performed on the spiritual plane by the Heart of Jesus in the wonderful, immense body that is the Church! In this Heart, for the first time, the cleansing from all sins took place, and the birth of hope and human love took place; there, too, in a mysterious way every day, during the Holy Mass, the corrupted and infected blood of the world flows in, and from there, a mysterious wave comes out, which comes from the Holy Spirit, which purifies, renews and strengthens all the members of the Church. Every forgiveness, every grace, every inspiration, every ray of hope and joy, every encouragement to unity that we experience in our Christian life, has its beginning in the Heart of Jesus. Such was the Father’s plan, so that all fullness dwells in Him and that we receive grace after grace from this fullness (cf. Col 2:9; Jn 1:16). And this is because in this Heart on the cross was fulfilled the act of complete and perfect obedience, which was the fulfillment of the entire will of God; therefore God exalted Him and entrusted the salvation of all people into His hands.

The greatest hope that fills us on this day is that the Heart of Jesus is not something that passed away, that stopped beating on this Friday afternoon, shortly before the mercenary pierced it with a spear. The heart of Jesus lives on because Jesus rose from the dead and lives, and when he rose from the dead and lives, so also His Heart rose from the dead and lives. He lives in the Spirit like the whole Christ, and living in the Spirit means that this heart continues to beat, that it dwells in some place, or rather in every place. After disposing of his mortal body, he called someone close to the whole world, “he is closer to me than I am to me”; he stands at the door of every heart and knocks, if someone opens to him, he will enter: He who loves me… my Father loves him and we will come to him and make our abode with him (Jn 14, 23).

If we conclude from this, we can say that the Heart of Jesus is a new heart that was promised to us by the prophet Ezekiel (11, 19) and was given to us at Holy Baptism. it also happened through our sins. To forgive as Jesus forgave, to obey as Jesus was obedient, to suffer as Jesus suffered, and to love as Jesus loved means to forgive, to be obedient, to suffer, and to love with the Heart of Jesus. Paul says: Let this desire quicken you; she was also in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5); but to manifest the same desires is to have the same heart! The true love for our neighbor, which the Gospel speaks about, does not consist in loving our brothers, giving them something of ours, but in allowing Jesus to love our brothers in us when we allow His love to flow through us.

One more thing. We long to be one heart again, like the original Christian community (cf. 4, 32); we strive for the unity of all believers in Christ; this is what ecumenism consists of. But what is this one heart? Or maybe a heart that was created from the union of all hearts, and thus something abstract and exclusively metaphorical? It is the Heart of Jesus that is “the king and unifier of all hearts”. Unity, fortunately for us, is already there, and at least it has begun, and we already have the germ of it; we only have to complete it and show it to the world by tearing down the walls we have built around this one Heart. In the Heart of Jesus, not only is the unity of all believers with each other realized, but also the unity of all believers with the Father: I am in them and You in me! That they may all be one (Jn 17, 23).

Let us now look in prayerful contemplation at the One whom we have pierced. This wound has always been a favorite refuge of souls thirsty for salvation. Through this narrow gate, they established close contact with Jesus and found pasture. This gate is open to all, both saints and sinners; it is open above all to those who labor and are burdened, to those who seek rest for their souls. “Whosoever thou art, run to this fountain of life and light, with fervent desire and inward strength of heart cry unto it: eternal and impenetrable, sublime and full of sweetness, the fountain hidden from the eyes of all mortals!” Your depth is infinite, your height is without end, your breadth is boundless, your purity is perfect! A river flows from you that “makes the city of God hap

Jesus says this: “Unless your righteousness is greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
So let’s ask ourselves the question: “What did Jesus mean by this?” What is Jesus’ “greater” righteousness, or in another translation, “more significant” righteousness? To answer this question, let’s look a little at how the Pharisees understood justice. They thought that by the outward fulfillment of all the commandments and regulations they would stand before God, that is, that they would be righteous based on fulfilled duty. That is why they called the Pharisees “justified”. According to Jewish dogmatic, there was a certain agreement between God and man. According to her, God, as a merchant, should have consistently written down for each person what he received and what he has to give. God and man stand side by side as equal business partners. And therefore, all the good deeds that a person performs will be written down by God “based on the purchase-legal relationship between himself and the person as a claim of the person”. As you’re to me, so I to you. If you, man, will perform good deeds, you will get plus, you will be healthy, you will acquire money, and you will be blessed! If you don’t do anything well, you will get a minus, you will get sick, misfortune will overtake you, you will become poor, you will not get blessings! Such was the opinion of the synagogue. They made God a merchant, a business partner. Justice based on “blasphemy of God”. How terrible was this religion! Jesus tries to throw away such justice and tear it out of a person’s heart like a poisonous root. Therefore, he tells the disciples that unless their righteousness is completely different, much greater than the righteousness of the Pharisees, they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. These words of Jesus were true, but also terrible for the Pharisees and other listeners because they changed everything. And in the closing words of the Sermon on the Mount, says this: “When Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes marveled at his teaching.” They were deeply shaken by the

We have the duty and responsibility to educate ourselves, to form our conscience. Conscience is therefore mainly the basis of a person’s inner dignity, and at the same time of his relationship with God (Bl. John Paul II). Jesus tells us: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets…” (Mt 5:77). He wants to fulfill his mission to the letter and letter, that is, everything as it was in God’s plan from the beginning.

Laws created by man need to be changed. Other circumstances, status, and other people come. God’s laws remain the same. God is the supreme lawgiver. God’s law can only be changed by God. Man would like to change God’s law, he cannot. Many people would like to adopt God’s law to their possibilities. God does not want the decline of man. God does not allow sin to be committed. If lying were allowed, everyone on earth would become a liar. If stealing is allowed, everyone will be a thief. If murder is allowed, everyone becomes a murderer. And so it is with every sin. And life on earth would become hell. God’s law helps a person to improve in morality, in the spirit of peace of common life. The most advantageous path of life for a person is the path on which a person preserves the Right. The law and the commandments do not want to enslave man. Vice versa. A person who realizes what God wants using prohibitions and commands faithfully observes them. He sees in them God who is Love. The greater the knowledge of Love, the more decisive the attitude against sin, and the more decisive the attitude toward Love. A wandering conscience binds (St. TA II/II q.19 ​​a.5.).

It is necessary to pay attention to the education of a person’s conscience. It is not enough that a person learns the commandments, but he must confront his actions with the commands. If a person understands well the meaning of the individual commands and the meaning of their whole, then he reaches the ideal of life and accepts the Church as a means on the path of life, which helps him, directs him, directs and leads him safely on the path to eternal life.

It can happen that under the influence of the environment, circumstances of life, and other circumstances, a person loses a clear view of some commandment, and it is precisely here that the mission of the Church is to guide him so that he does not remain in error. The Church is the authority in the field of faith and morals. Jesus gave power to Peter and promised the Holy Spirit. Therefore, only the Church has the right and duty to explain the commandments of faith and morals. He cannot leave it to personal opinion or the opinion of a group or some leader. Morality begins where words end (A.Schweitzer). History and today are proof of false ideologies and false leaders.

It is recommended from time to time to stop and seriously reconsider or check your conscience. This is how we talk about the evening examination of conscience, which is recommended as hygiene of the soul when we pay the same attention to the hygiene of the body. A short examination of conscience is at the beginning of every Holy Mass. It is appropriate because the Mass is the holiest sacrifice, and we should prepare accordingly for it.

Has anyone ever asked you the question: “Why do you go to church, why do you pray?”…and the like. And what will our answer to ourselves sound like? Many also answer this question with the words: “I need to pour light, and salt into my life again and again.” Others: “I feel that even my surroundings rightfully ask me to be a role model, an example of life, and I need to strengthen myself, I need light to see more and see myself and the surroundings more clearly in the light of Christ.” In other words – many of us realize that we are not only here for ourselves, but also for others. Jesus asks us to be salt and light to our brothers and sisters.

And it is to us, who think like this, that Jesus reminds us: ” You are the salt of the earth”… “You are the light of the world”… and the words: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father.” (Mt 5:13, 14, 16). In a relatively short periscope of the Gospel, the Lord Jesus points out parables, each of which addresses directly those who believed in Christ with the words: “You are”. In this way, he announces the hidden clear form of his will, what his disciples are to become. And that’s because they have to fulfill the mission with which Jesus entrusts them. The images that Jesus points to are understandable. Salt has no mission for itself, but has been used in the preparation of food, and, like the sun, serves not only itself, but illuminates creatures, and, like the city on a hill, is therefore exposed for all to see. Missioner three is service.

Jesus is not only a teacher but also our role model. He is the salt of the earth. Without him, the world would not have the flavor of eternity. Without it, the world would collapse and perish under the pressure of immorality as easily as food without salt quickly spoils. Salt is his divine nature. His Spirit, who received the world at the moment of his incarnation and later at the moment of resurrection. St. Bernard said: “Every speech I hear or read is tasteless to me if I do not find the name of Jesus in it.”

When Jesus tells the disciples, “You are salt, light, a city on a hill”, they should realize that they – enlightened by his word – are obliged to give light to others, just as the moon reflects the light of the sun when night has come. In the time of Christ in Palestine, salt was considered a great good. In the minds of Jesus’ contemporaries, salt was associated with purity. The Romans said that salt is the purest of all things on earth because it comes from the purest things – water and the sun. Therefore, salt has always been used as a sacrificial gift to God. Jesus tells us that a Christian cannot isolate himself. A Christian should be of benefit everywhere. Holy Father John Paul II. In the encyclical Christifideles laici, he says that Christians should take their place wherever it does not contradict his conscience. A Christian must not isolate himself. For many people in the world, life has ceased to be “tasty” and equally “bright” and also “pleasant”; because of themselves and others, they experienced the disappointment of life.

Do you have experience with people who have no reason to live? They don’t enjoy life, they don’t know how to enjoy themselves, they are often a burden to those around them, but also to themselves. What Jesus Christ talks about in today’s gospel are the beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:1). Jesus’ speech, as delivered by the evangelist Matthew, represents a new perspective on the meaning and activity of man – both towards God, his neighbor and himself.

The Beatitudes raise the question of who, in Jesus’ understanding, are “poor, weeping, silent, hungry for justice, merciful, pure of heart, spreading peace, persecuted, reviled”? Questions beget answers, but they all have one thing in common: they will be rewarded. Jesus explains these requirements at the beginning of his activity gradually during his public performance. This speech is considered the most beautiful and at the same time the most Christian and exemplary evangelization. At the same time, the text is difficult and demanding, it needs an explanation. The Church accepts these words of Christ as a synthesis of the commands of the Gospel, a kind of constitutional law of Christian morality. For worldly ethics, Christ’s words are utopia, words far from life and also dangerous for the structures of dreaming and dreaming. These words caused and still cause many discussions today. These are words that really shock. This is because Jesus points to a new image of the world, which is based on other values, which he relied on and still relies on the world that does not believe in God. Jesus’ words point to the idea that God had for man when he created him. Indeed, these words are in contrast to what we encounter in ordinary life. Even in non-believers, when they pay adequate attention to them, the words evoke a positive view of Christ and his teachings. Jesus places a radical emphasis on this model of life and calls it his program. He convinces us of this with his own life.

Jesus addresses the words on the mountain to all who believe in his divinity. That is, not only to listen to the words, but also to fulfill them in life. It is a challenge – to adopt the spirit of these words. Although the words caused astonishment in the crowd, the crowd was equally amazed at Jesus’ teaching. It is the demand of a new heart “metanoia”, the moral rebirth of man, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus later that night. A Christian who knows how to renounce himself will find wisdom and justice, sanctification and redemption in Christ. After two millennia, today we know more clearly what Jesus meant when he announced the beatitudes at the beginning of his public appearance.

Jesus’ words are proof that all our happiness, even if we combine them, will not cause in us the happiness that we will achieve with Christ. Who will count the disappointments, disgusts and the like, on which people based themselves while avoiding the clear demand of Christ..? Wealth, fame, power, which a person strives for, for which he sacrifices time, effort, health, often even family, friends and others, will not make him happy

We know decent people, who do nothing wrong, but when they have to sacrifice something or give up something, they can’t do it. These people are lukewarm. They don’t feel the need to change anything. These people think they have no sins. We enter the kingdom of God by what we are inside. It is an attitude of the heart. Whether a person can open up and accept God, or whether they close themselves off and think they don’t need God because they are rich. Why is the journey of the rich into the kingdom of God more difficult than for others? The essence of love is desire. Man longs for the infinite. When he has something he wants to have even more. Here the problem arises that man turns away from God and this desire is not fulfilled in God. He throws himself headlong into created things. Augustine describes this in his Confessions. Here it does not help man to say. You already have enough possessions, other people live in misery. Unless man finds his way to God, he is incapable of change. Attachment to possessions means an inability to open oneself to God. Many people think that to get into God’s kingdom, it is enough to keep the commandments. Thus, I am not doing anything wrong. I am good. You heard the story of how someone came to the gate of heaven, showed his hands, and said. Lord look. My hands are clean. Yes, your hands are clean, but they are empty. It’s not enough not to have sin. Not one parable mentions, you murdered, you stole, so you go to hell and you didn’t murder so you go to heaven. One parable speaks of talents. Those who used their talents were rewarded. The one who buried the talent was punished even though he did nothing wrong. When it comes to possessions, it’s all about attitude. Many people feel a calling to the spiritual life, but cannot detach themselves from something or someone. However, it is important to realize that when we detach ourselves from something or someone, we have the opportunity to gain something new. We do not place too much stock in what we have. One day we will leave everything behind anyway. It is the thief who steals not the property, but the owner. For example, death. Jesus said, where your treasure is there is your heart. Let’s examine where our thoughts go when we pray. That’s where our heart is. That’s what’s important to us. What we don’t care about, we don’t think about.

Fear was ranked by the Stoics among the four basic passions that take away peace of mind and cloud judgment. The rational man will therefore is not afraid, is courageous, and has no fear of struggle. “To live is to fight,” writes Seneca. Scipio gave the Romans the advice not to storm Carthage. For in him, they have a constant drive,..lest they lose their martial prowess.
Even in the Old Testament, they praise courageous warriors. But they do not forget to note that their courage is backed by the fear of God. They were not afraid of men because they believed in God and they relied on him more than they relied on their swords, their muscles, and military prowess.
In this sense, St. John Climacus also writes: “Fear presupposes a lack of faith,… lack of trust in God. The proud soul is in bondage to fear because it relies only on itself, and then it is afraid if it only moves a leaf or shadow. The fearful sometimes even lose their senses, they are all without themselves. This is natural, for the Lord rightly leaves the puffed-up, that we may learn from their example not to be proud.” Klimak, however, acknowledges that timidity is also a carnal weakness. He also thinks that this disease can be cured. The main thing is that the “trembling of the limbs” does not penetrate the spirit. According to him, mentally fearful people are all proud. Even if it makes does not imply, he adds, that night thief who are not afraid to dig graves are humble.
Christian Courage.
How do Christian writers define courage? A. le Gaudier defines it in these words, “It is a virtue, a virtue in which a man does not rely on his strength, but he relies hopefully on God’s help. In this way, he overcomes all fears and apprehensions of the toils and labors that occur during the spiritual life. He overcomes even the terror of death. He manfully offers to God his body and his soul to be consumed in the service of God by the fire of the most holy love of God.”
To courage, Origen gave the first place among the four cardinal virtues. For he lived at a time when it was considered martyrdom was considered the supreme and almost the only manifestation of holiness. Interestingly, however, the Church exalted martyrdom especially for children and women, because it was “in the weak generation” (cf., liturgical oration) the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit was better manifested.
This manifestation thus distinguishes Christian virtue from natural courage and fortitude. Militant tribes and militaristic states} encourage the education of youth in hardness, harshness, and fearlessness. Certainly, we are not opposed to healthy hardiness, but still, it is not the Christian ideal to raise rank-and-file soldiers for the Spartan legions. Gentle souls can be courageous in other ways than in battle or playing soldier. A Christian is courageous out of love for the truth. Most childish lies are out of fear. A fearful man will not dare to say calmly and openly that he doesn’t like something. He pretends easily, avoids direct questioning, and promises even what he cannot and does not intend to do. He is quick to show false humility. Those who have truly fallen in love with the truth, he will soon know that without courage …he will not defend it. The latter, however, presupposes several other virtues.
Trust in God.
The foundation of Christian courage is in the first place firm trust in God. This means, according to St. John Climacus, to eradicate unreasonable fearfulness, such as we have all more or less carried away from childhood, such as fear of darkness, loneliness, desolate places, etc. This saint writes: “If you are afraid of any place, do not hesitate to go there at night! If you let your fear overwhelm you, then this..childish and ridiculous passion will grow old in you. When you go there, arm yourself with prayer. When you get there, stretch out your hands and defeat your enemy in the name of Jesus. For there is no mightier weapon in heaven or on earth. When you then …when you are rid of your fear, give thanks to your deliverer. If you are grateful to him, he will always protect you. How ..the stomach is not filled with one hit, neither is fear overcome in a moment. The more alive the spirit of repentance is in a man, the quicker he will prevail. But the more comfortable we are, the longer we will remain in our fearfulness. When we have freed ourselves from all fear, there will be no neither devils, nor darkness, nor loneliness, but only the barrenness of our souls. Fear is sometimes the chastisement of God’s providence. He who is a servant of God fears only his Lord. He who does not fear his Lord is often afraid of his own shadow… “

This is an extremely important topic for Catholics in discussions with non-Catholics. Almost all Protestants have a reverence for the “Lord’s Supper,” and some denominations, such as Lutherans and members of the Episcopal Church, have a sacramental attitude toward the Eucharist that approaches the teaching of the Catholic Church (i.e., that at the moment of transubstantiation, Christ is sacra mentally, truly, and substantially present in body and blood, soul and divinity under the species of bread and wine). Also assuming almost universal agreement among Protestants on this doctrine, Catholics must be prepared to use Scripture to explain why the Church proclaims the dogma of transubstantiation and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
First, as the next few passages will show, the Passover event in the Old Testament most dramatically prefigures the Eucharistic sacrifice and its relationship to Christ’s saving sacrifice on the cross – our eternal Sacrifice and eternal High Priest. At the Last Supper, Christ fulfilled the Old Testament disfigurement of the Passover by his institution of the Eucharist. Just as the “lamb” was ritually sacrificed in the Old Testament and with his blood have anointed the porches of the houses of the faithful Jews who, under Moses’ leadership, awaited their release from the captivity and slavery they had endured in Egypt, so likewise is Christ the “Lamb of God” whose death on the cross “takes away the sins of the world.” Our worthy reception of the Eucharist and participation in the sacrifice of the Holy Mass makes us truly present at the cross and in the heavenly temple where Christ, the supreme High Priest, offers His perfect sacrifice to the Father on our behalf.
Verse Jn 1:28-30 should be linked with Ex 12:8 and 12:46, where Moses is told that the flesh of the sacrificial Passover lamb (a type of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God) must be eaten on the night of the first Passover. This Old Testament image of the slain lamb being eaten by God’s people (who were protected from the angel of death by the blood of the lamb, which they sprinkled on the faithful home), is a disfigurement of the Blessed Sacrament. Christ, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sins of the world, protects us from eternal death by his blood, which was shed for us on the cross. (Ed. note: St. John Chrysostom: “Now, therefore, the enemy will withdraw much sooner, when will see no longer the blood of the image on the door, but the true blood shining on the mouths of the faithful, for it sanctifies the faithful of the temple of Christ.”)
Compare the meaning of the Passover with the Mass, the sacrifice of the lamb with the sacrifice of Christ, and the people, whom God commanded to eat the lamb, with the people, whom God commanded to eat the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves” (Jn 6:53). Paul speaks of this connection in /Cor 5:7 when he calls Christ “our Passover lamb” who was “sacrificed” for us.
* Ex 12:1-13: “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ‘This month will be a beginning month for you, the first month of the year.
In the tenth On the tenth day of this month, let every man provide a lamb for his family, a lamb for every house. If the family is smaller and could not eat a lamb, let it join with the neighbor who lives nearest to his house, according to the number of persons, how many are enough for to eat the lamb? The lamb must be without blemish, a male lamb of one year old; you may pick him out of the sheep or kids. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; on the eve of the month, the whole congregation of Israel shall sacrifice it. They shall take off his blood and anoint with it both the porch and the lintel of the door of the houses in which they shall eat it. And on that night
they shall eat flesh roasted with fire and unleavened bread with bitter herbs. None of it shall be eaten raw or boiled in water, that is, only on
baked with fire. You shall also eat the head, the feet, and the entrails. Nothing of it shall be left until morning; if there is anything left of it, you shall burn it on the fire. And you shall eat it like this: Your loins shall be girded, your sandals with sandals on your feet, and staff in your hand. You shall eat quickly, for it is the Lord’s Passover. On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and will kill all the firstborn in Egypt; man, beginning from even to the cattle. And over all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgment. I am the Lord! The blood on your houses shall be a sign that you dwell in them. I will see
blood, and I will pass over them; no plague shall befall you when I smite Egypt.'” Ex 12:21-28: “Moses called all the elders of the children of Israel and said to them: “Go, take. “And you shall dip a bundle into the blood in a basin of hyssop and anoint with it the lintel of the door and both porches of your house, for the Lord will pass by and smite the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the upper and both the lintels, he will pass by the door, and will not suffer the corrupter to come into your houses and destroy. Keep this commandment as a statute for yourselves and your sons forever. Also, when ye come into the land which the Lord shall give you, as..you shall keep these ordinances. And when your sons ask you, “What does this ceremony mean?” you shall say to them: “It is the sacrifice of the paschal lamb to the Lord as when he passed by the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote when he smote the Egyptians, and when he spared our houses.’