5th Week of Lent 2026 - Tuesday - Remedy for the serpent's poison

 

For forty years, God had provided for his people as they wandered the desert, giving them manna from heaven. God had fed them, God had sustained them. And yet, as we heard in the reading from the book of numbers today, “the people complained against God and Moses: We are disgusted with this wretched food!”

With their hearts hardened against God, the Israelites became subject to the deadly poison of serpents.

There is a bit of a parallel to Adam and Eve in the garden. God had provided food aplenty for Adam and Eve. But they were discontented with the food God provided, and looked to the fruit of the forbidden tree. They too became subject to the deadly poison of the serpent at the forbidden tree. They were poisoned by the serpent’s bite, and that poison brought death, not only for them, but for the entire human race.

The story from the Book of Numbers looks back to Adam and Eve and the consequences of sin, but it also foreshadows the victory of the New Adam in the Gospel.

The bronze serpent, mounted on a pole, becoming a source of life for the poisoned Israelites, foreshadows the saving death of Jesus Christ, mounted on the cross, which becomes a source of eternal life for all who believe in Him.

The drama of Adam and Eve, the drama of sin, the drama of the Israelites in the desert, plays over and over again in our lives.  We allow trust, love, and gratitude to God to die in our hearts whenever we turn to sin. We allow ourselves to grow discontent with the good food God has provided for us and seek to satisfy our hunger for God in so many artificial substitutes. We allow the serpent to whisper to us, that we should grasp for more than what God has provided. The story warns us of the folly of turning our hearts from God and the consequences that inevitably ensue.

For us and for all people, Jesus is the remedy for this cycle of sin and death. Lifted up on the Cross, He becomes the healing we could never provide for ourselves. To break the cycle, we must turn our ears away from the poisonous words of the serpent, but to turn our eyes to Christ with faith.

Lent teaches us to recognize the poison of sin in our lives and to turn again to the Crucified One. If we look to Him with repentance and trust, He will heal what sin has wounded and lead us from death to life for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Trusting in the mercy of God, and turning our eyes to Christ lifted up for our salvation, let us bring before the Father our prayers and petitions.

For the Church, that she may faithfully proclaim Christ crucified as the true remedy for sin and death, and lead many souls to repentance and healing.

For the defense of our nation from all threats foreign and domestic; for a quick and peaceful resolution to all violent conflict and safety for all first responders.

For those preparing to receive the Easter Sacraments, that by God’s grace they may be protected from evil and drawn ever more deeply into the saving mystery of Christ’s Cross and Resurrection.

For those whose hearts have grown hardened through sin, complaint, or ingratitude, that the Lord may soften their hearts and restore in them trust, love, and gratitude, let us pray to the Lord. Lord hear our prayer.

For the sick, the suffering, and those burdened by illness of body, mind, or spirit, that the healing power of Christ may strengthen them and give them peace, let us pray to the Lord. Lord hear our prayer.

For the faithful departed, that having looked to Christ in faith during this life, they may now behold Him face to face in the glory of heaven, let us pray to the Lord. Lord hear our prayer.

Heavenly Father, you sent your Son into the world to heal us from the poison of sin and lead us from death to life. Hear the prayers we place before you, and grant them according to your holy will. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

 

5th Week of Lent 2022 - Tuesday - Listen to his love

 The Israelites in the desert had taken their eyes off of what God was doing for them, and allowed the poison of ingratitude fill their hearts.  God was freeing them from slavery and leading them to the promised land, but their complaints and hardness of hearts allowed poisonous and deadly ingratitude to direct their thoughts, words, and actions. The deadly poison of the Saraph Serpants was a symbol of the even deadlier poison of sin that reigned in them. The brush with death, like for many people, became a wake up call, they realized they sinned and repented. God provided a remedy for the poisonous snake bites but instructing Moses to place the bronze serpent on the pole. All who looked at it would live.

In the Gospel, the Pharisees allowed the poison of pride to fill their hearts. Failing to recognize that Jesus was truly the Son of God, Jesus told the Pharisees that they would die in their sins unless they looked upon him and believed that he was God.  

In these dark times, many have allowed sinful pride and sinful gratitude to dominate their lives. Man Catholics even have stopped looking to the Crucified for life. Many Catholics do not have crucifixes in their homes, they do not go to Church, and worse, they believe there’s nothing wrong. But, it is the task of faithful Christians to hold him up for the world to see—in our speech, in our behaviors, and in our prayers, that they may see him and believe.

The great lover of the Crucified, St. Paul of the Cross, would often go from parish to parish, preaching parish missions.  When he would preach these missions, he would often hold out to the congregation a crucifix, and simply holding the crucifix out for all to see, he would say, “listen to his love.”

He said, "When you are alone in your room, take your crucifix, kiss its five wounds reverently, tell it to preach to you a little sermon, and then listen to the words of eternal life that it speaks to your heart; listen to the pleading of the thorns, the nails, the precious Blood. Oh, what an eloquent sermon!"

Look at the hands of Jesus, always open during life, still open, still giving, healing to the last drop of blood. Look at the feet of Jesus, which climbed the mountain of Calvary, now lifted up and nailed to the cross for our salvation. Look at the side of Jesus from which flowed the blood and water, the fountain of the sacramental life of the Church

If you know of any Catholics who have stopped looking to Jesus, bring them to Mass with you on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Help them to listen to his love, to see that he reaches out to them from the cross with tremendous love. We are to help them embrace Him, as he longs to bring them mercy, strength, and peace, as he has for us.  As we near Holy Week, may each of us keep his tremendous outpouring of love ever before our eyes, in our mind, and in our hearts, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That God may be pleased to increase faith and understanding in the catechumens and candidates who approach the sacraments of initiation in the coming Paschal Solemnity. 

That those in need may find assistance in the charity of faithful Christians and that peace and security may be firmly established in all places.

For strength to resist temptation, and the humility to sincerely repent of sin.

That through fasting and self-denial, we may be ever more conformed to Christ.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

September 14 2021 - Exaltation of the Holy Cross - Crux Spes Unica (The Cross is our only hope)

This last Sunday, Our Lord told us that we must take up our crosses. Today, on this feast of the exaltation we hear that we are not only to take up our crosses, but lift up the cross of Christ to be a source of healing for the world. We hear twice in our readings about lifting something up. 

In the first reading, from the book of Numbers, we hear how the people of Ancient Israel had become afflicted with this terrible and deadly venom, bitten by snakes on their journey through the desert. God delivered them, he saved them, by giving them a powerful remedy. Moses was instructed to mount and lift up this serpent mounted on a pole, and all who looked upon it were saved.

In the Gospel, the Lord explains how his very public death on the cross was to be a source of healing, not just for a small group of people at one point in history, but a source of healing for all the world throughout all of history. 

Paul says, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Christians are tasked with lifting high this cross, to help the perishing believe in its power, to wake them out of their slumber to help them know the healing, the salvation that comes through the cross.

Paul wrote those words to the fractured community of Corinth. Many of the Corinthian Christians had turned away from the cross, they had fallen back into the immorality and perversions of the world—their souls were at risk. So Paul encouraged the Corinthians to look to the cross as a sign of healing for the divided community, a way out of their divisive sinfulness. The cross would unite them, the cross would heal them of the snake venom of sinfulness. 

The cross is the call to conversion because it is a sign of God’s great love for us, that he desires so much more for us than the sinfulness we have so often freely chosen. He desires our wholeness, our holiness, our salvation, so much that he is willingness to go to the cross for us. 

There are so many divisions in the 21st century Church it’s almost like we’re one gigantic Corinth. Yes, many gifts, many graces, but also many divisions, many sins. The early Church had a saying, Crux spes unica—the cross is our only hope. 

Many times throughout the day, we do well to spend a few moments looking to the cross, pleading to the crucified one, to bring us healing, bring us wholeness, bring us unity, that we may lift high the cross in our own lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the Church may lift high the Cross of Christ, proclaiming forgiveness and redemption in him alone, we pray to the Lord...

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and take hold of the peace and justice that only he can bring, we pray to the Lord...

That all whose lives are marked by suffering may discover the saving power of the cross of Christ, and be victorious in all their trials, we pray to the Lord...

That those who embrace the cross as they work for justice for the poor, the oppressed, and the unborn, may find strength and success in their work, we pray to the Lord…

That the sick may be blessed with patience during the difficult parts of their journey in life, we pray to the Lord...

That all who have died may experience the eternal life won by the cross of Christ, especially the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for my dear friend Father Robert Wendelken on the anniversary of his death, and for N. for whom this Mass is offered, we pray to the Lord...

Almighty ever-living God, comfort of mourners, strength of all who toil, may the prayers of those who cry out in any tribulation come before you, that all may rejoice, because in their hour of need your mercy was at hand. Through Christ our Lord. (From Good Friday Petitions)

5th Week of Lent 2021 - Tuesday - The Remedy for Death

 Discontent with the food God has provided. An encounter with a serpent. Certain aspects of the story from the Book of Numbers this morning have certain parallels with the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

God had provided food aplenty for Adam and Eve. They could eat from any of the fruit trees in the Garden of Eden.  But they were discontented with the food God provided, and looked to the fruit of the forbidden tree.

Similarly, the Israelites in the desert: God had provided manna from heaven. But they were discontented. They wanted more. Their complaining was a sure sign that they were failing to trust God and be grateful to God.

Like the Israelites, who are bit and poisoned by serpents, Adam and Eve allowed themselves to be proverbially bit by the serpent at the forbidden tree. They are poisoned by the serpent’s bite, and that poison brings death, not only for them, but for the entire human race.

The story from the Book of Numbers not only looks back to Adam and Eve, but foreshadows the victory of the New Adam, in the Gospel. The bronze serpent, mounted on a pole, becoming a source of life for the poisoned Israelites, foreshadows the saving death of Jesus Christ, mounted on the cross, which becomes a source of eternal life for all who believe in Him.

The drama of Adam and Eve, the drama of sin, the drama of the Israelites in the desert, plays over and over again in our lives.  We allow trust, love, and gratitude to God to die in our hearts whenever we turn to sin. We allow ourselves to grow discontent with the good food God has provided for us and seek to satisfy our hunger for God in so many artificial substitutes. We allow the serpent to whisper to us, that we should grasp for more than what God has provided. And then the serpent strikes. We yield to sinful temptation. 

Even a venial sin would bring eternal death, if not for the saving grace of Christ. For the poison of sin is eternally lethal if left untreated. But thanks be to God, the divine physician has become the remedy of sin through his death.

There are many that refuse to turn their gaze to the saving cross of Christ out of stubbornness, ignorance, or attachment to sin. Yet, we are called to lift him up for all to see nonetheless, in our speech, in our liturgical life, and good Christian example.

As Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum near, let us look to the cross and lift high the cross that the Lord may bring healing and deliverance to those who love him. May the poison of sin which continues to linger in us in the form of selfishness, mistrust of God, or disordered attachment to earthly goods and activities, be eradicated in us through the grace of the Savior for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For an increase in faith for the catechumens and candidates who approach the sacraments of initiation in the coming Paschal Solemnity. And That the Church might be delivered and protected from all spirits of error, heresy, schism, and unbelief. Let us pray to the Lord.

That during this Year of St. Joseph, the Church may discover a deeper devotion to our Universal Patron. That through St. Joseph’s intercession families may be strengthened, priestly and religious vocations may increase, demons may be scattered, and the sick and dying may know the peace of Jesus. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  Let us pray to the Lord. Let us pray to the Lord.

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.