Daily Readings

Reading I:  Nm 21:4-9

From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road,
to bypass the land of Edom.
But with their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,
“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!”

In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,
“We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.”
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent 
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.    
 

Responsorial Psalm:  102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21

R.    (2)  O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
O LORD, hear my prayer,
    and let my cry come to you.
Hide not your face from me
    in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;    
    in the day when I call, answer me speedily.
R.    O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
    and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
    and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
    and not despised their prayer.
R.    O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
    and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
    from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
    to release those doomed to die.”
R.    O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
 

Verse before the Gospel

The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
all who come to him will live for ever.
 

Gospel:  Jn 8:21-30

Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come.”
So the Jews said,
“He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”
He said to them, “You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.”
So they said to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world.”
They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me. 
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him.”
Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

 

Father Kirk's Daily Lenten Reflection
Tuesday of the 5th Week fo Lent: March 28, 2023

The Book of Numbers tells us the story of the whining and complaining Israelites.  They were being hard to please and ungrateful.  Through Moses they said to God: ““Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water?  We are disgusted with this wretched food!”  In response the Lord sent seraph serpents to bite them and many died.

Quickly the Israelites came to their senses and began to beg God through Moses to relent and God did.

Sincere gratitude is often an elusive and difficult virtue.  It is easy to be grateful when things are going our way – when we get what we want and are satisfied, but not so much when we are not.  In other words, our sense of thanksgiving may be in short supply when we are facing any kind of troubles or trials.

Our faith tells us, salvation history shows us, and Jesus assures us that God is always with us.  God is always near to us even when we cannot feel him and even when we don’t know it.  God is with us in good times but most especially in bad times.

Let us strive to be grateful to God for the gift of his grace and presence in our lives.  Let us be grateful for the gift of life and love and for all of the wonders that surround us.