Jesus' quotation from Isaiah describes the profound tenderness of God despite the difficulty in imagining a bruised reed. Is it like a mangled piece of glass of a tattered drinking straw that no longer works?

As I child, I often marveled at the way my mother was able to snuff out a candle flame or match after lighting her cigarette; with a snappy roll of the thumb and fingers. But I also remember how my mother would take my hands, or my brother's, and hold them near an open flame on the stove, if we stole or otherwise appropriated what did not belong to us. Years later my brother was in the Navy and went to court for using that same routine on his son.

On hearing his testimony the judge said: What may have been tolerable in another generation is no longer acceptable today, but because of the circumstances, I will drop the charges with the recommendation that you get some counseling. We both did.

And counseling is wonderful, painfully wonderful at times, but therapeutic. Yet it only goes so far. Our reflection on the book of Exodus describes the Passover celebrated annually in commemoration of the Passover of the Angel of Death, which at first liberated Pharaoh’s heart to let the Israelites free, but later pursued them; but God's protection remained with them.

The ultimate Passover, however, was not that of the angel, but of Jesus Himself passing through death and destroying it. In the Eastern Church at Pascha they sing by your death you have trampled death. In our own Easter Vigil the priest sings the Extultet: O death, where is your victory; O death, where is your sting?

This is the very core of our faith, that death, our most insidious enemy, has no power to destroy us, because in Christ, we are given Eternal life. But our souls darkened by sin struggle to yield in faith, that is why we allow our appetites to go undisciplined.

Is it gluttony - afraid that we will not have enough food to survive and we will die?

Is it greed - the need to accumulate money or toys or clothing or whatever, because if we don't have enough we will be vulnerable?

Is it lust, where healthy sexual relationships don't satisfy and one turns to movies, videos, the internet, where there is enough to satisfy? Beware of the little voice that says, "if you don't use it, you'll loose it," or that would be a fate worse than death.

Anger is a justifiable emotion, but rage is out of control when one feels that without the satisfaction of power their life is intimidated. So get out of my way on my highway, of my shopping lane, or you might be the one found dead.

All of these are exaggerations of legitimate passions and emotions, intimidated by fear of death, cause us to loose total contact with the I-Amness of God, ourselves and each other. And unable to give mercy without that Divine contact, we judge each other and seek to destroy the vulnerable and bruised.