[The
fifth stage]
7. “And having set out from Pihahiroth
(Phiahiroth), they crossed over through the middle of the sea in the
desert, and they walked a journey of three days in the wilderness of Etham (Aetham),
and they camped in Marah (Mara).”
The fifth stage is Mara, which
means “bitterness.” They were not able to reach the waters of the Red Sea, and
to see Pharaoh perishing with his army, until after they had noble things in
their mouth, that is to say, had confessed the Lord’s miracles, when they
believed in God and in Moses his servant, and heard from him: “The Lord will
fight for you, and you will be silent.” And with Miriam (Maria) leading
the song, the victors sounded forth the songs of the triumphant ones by
striking tambourines on their bodies: “Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been
magnified gloriously, he cast horse and rider into the sea.” After the
proclamation of the Gospel, after the tabernacles of those who transmigrated,
after courage was taken up, after the nobility of confession, they encounter
dangers again. From this, we learn always to beware of ambushes and to invoke
the mercy of God, so we may be able to escape Pharaoh, who is in close pursuit,
that on our behalf he may be drowned in spiritual baptism. (Jerome, “Epistle 78
to Fabiola,” A.D. 399, in St. Jerome: Exegetical Epistles, 2 vols.
[trans. Thomas P. Scheck; The Fathers of the Church 147; Washington, D.C.: The
Catholic University of America Press, 2023], 1:337-38)
