Moses had grown up in Pharaoh's palace as a prince of Egypt. But he knew he was a Hebrew, and he saw the suffering of his enslaved people.

One day, when he was already a grown man, Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day, he saw two Hebrews fighting. When he tried to separate them, one of them said:

"Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?"

Moses was afraid, because what he had done was known. When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian.

In Midian, Moses helped the daughters of a priest named Jethro, and in time he married one of them, Zipporah. He became a shepherd, tending his father-in-law's sheep.

Forty years passed. Moses was now eighty years old. The prince of Egypt had become a simple shepherd in the desert. His days of glory in the palace were far behind him, and he lived a quiet life, caring for sheep, far from everything.

But God had not forgotten Moses. And God had not forgotten his people in Egypt. The Israelites groaned under slavery, and their cries rose up to God. God heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God's time had come.

One day, Moses was tending Jethro's flock near Mount Horeb, also called the mountain of God.

Suddenly, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the middle of a bush. Moses looked, and the bush was burning with fire, yet it was not consumed. It was very strange. Fire normally burns and destroys, but that bush stayed green and full of leaves, even in the flames.

Moses said to himself:

"I will go closer and see this remarkable sight. Why is the bush not burning up?"

When the Lord saw that Moses was coming closer to look, God called to him from the middle of the bush:

"Here I am," Moses answered.

God said:

Moses obeyed at once, taking off his sandals. He was on holy ground, in the presence of Almighty God.

God went on:

"I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said:

"I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their oppressors. Yes, I know their sufferings. And I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey."

What wonderful words. God had seen, God had heard, and God was going to act. But then he said something that frightened Moses:

Moses was terrified. Him, go back to Egypt? Face Pharaoh? He was a fugitive, a shepherd. He was no longer the powerful prince of long ago.

Moses said to God:

"Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

God answered:

"I will be with you. And this shall be the sign that it was I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."

But Moses kept hesitating:

"When I come to the children of Israel and tell them that the God of their fathers has sent me, they will ask me: 'What is his name?' What shall I answer?"

God said to Moses:

But Moses was still afraid. He said:

"What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice?"

God gave him three miraculous signs to perform: turning his staff into a serpent and back into a staff, making his hand leprous and then healthy again, and turning water from the Nile into blood.

Even so, Moses tried to slip away:

"Oh, Lord, I have never been good with words. I speak slowly, and with difficulty."

The Lord said to him:

"Who gave man his mouth? Is it not I, the Lord? Go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say."

At last Moses pleaded:

"Oh, Lord, please send someone else!"

God grew angry with Moses, but he was patient. He said that Aaron, Moses' brother, could speak for him, and that he would be with them both.

Finally, Moses accepted God's call. He went home, said goodbye to his father-in-law, took his wife and his sons, and set out back to Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God, that ordinary shepherd's staff God would use to work great miracles.

The Lord said to Moses:

"When you return to Egypt, perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go."

It would be a difficult mission. Pharaoh would not easily give up his slaves. But God was sending Moses, and God would go with him.

Aaron, Moses' brother, came out to meet him. Moses told him everything the Lord had said, and together they went to speak with the elders of Israel.

Aaron spoke all the words the Lord had spoken to Moses, and performed the signs before the people. The people believed. When they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

After forty years in the desert, Moses was back. No longer as a prince of Egypt, but as a servant of God. Not with his own power, but with the power of God.

The burning bush was not consumed because it was full of the presence of God. And now Moses too was full of the presence of God, ready for the mission of freeing the people of Israel. The great adventure was only beginning.