Here is part of today’s Old Testament reading, from Exodus: ‘Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp; and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose up, and every man stood at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the door of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses’.

‘The Pillar of the Cloud’ is also the title of the well-known poem of soon-to-be-canonised Blessed John Henry Newman. The first verse runs: ‘Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, / Lead Thou me on! / The night is dark, and I am far from home – / Lead Thou me on! / Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see / The distant scene, – one step enough for me’.

He wrote this poem when on a difficult journey, when he felt the power and guidance of the ‘Kindly Light’ of God, which was to him as the ‘Pillar of the Cloud’ of Moses.

On our own difficult journeys, especially those of the spirit, may we know God’s ‘Kindly Light’ of wisdom, guiding us as Moses was guided. May God bless you this day.