Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Today's Mass Readings

The liturgy begins today with the words, “Wait for the Lord; be strong; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!” (Ps 26:14). These could well be the words of Moses spoken to the Israelites who have lost heart during their desert trek and are complaining about the wretched food that they must eat. They are bitten by serpents for their lack of trust in God’s saving power. God does act! If only they could have been a little more patient. He instructs Moses to mount a bronze serpent upon a pole. This symbol—which prefigures Christ being lifted upon the cross—brings healing both of body and spirit. The responsory is again Moses’ cry for the Lord’s intervention, “O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you” (Ps 102:2). And it is Jesus’ cry to the Father, interceding for the whole human race, that God will “hear the groaning of the prisoners, [and] release those doomed to die.”

Tensions continue to fester between Jesus and the Pharisees in our Gospel passage from John 8:21-30. The elders demand to know “Who are you?” Jesus’ response is a shock to them: “When you lift up the Son of Man, [a reference to the serpent Moses mounted on the pole] you will realize that I AM.” And “I AM” is the name that God used to identify himself to Moses in the burning bush. As we approach communion today, let us draw our strength from the antiphon text, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself…” (Jn 12:32). Just as the Israelites found healing in the bronze serpent, so do we find renewed life and salvation in Jesus’ saving death upon the cross.

Prayer for Today: O Saving God, help us to be strong, to be stouthearted, and to wait in patient hope in the midst of trials, for it is you who hear the prayer of the destitute and bring us life, light, and redemption.

Reflection by Br. Michael Marcotte, OSB