Memory of the Mother of the Lord

Reading of the Word of God

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Numbers 21,4-9

They left Mount Hor by the road to the Sea of Suph, to skirt round Edom. On the way the people lost patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, 'Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert? For there is neither food nor water here; we are sick of this meagre diet.' At this, God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, 'We have sinned by speaking against Yahweh and against you. Intercede for us with Yahweh to save us from these serpents.' Moses interceded for the people, and Yahweh replied, 'Make a fiery serpent and raise it as a standard. Anyone who is bitten and looks at it will survive.' Moses then made a serpent out of bronze and raised it as a standard, and anyone who was bitten by a serpent and looked at the bronze serpent survived.

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

In the rebellion and murmuring of the people an insidious evil is generated, represented by the "poisonous serpents," it is a depiction of the evil that from the beginning humiliates humankind by wanting to separate him from the love of God. In this case, it is the weariness of the journey, the lament for the difficulties of the journey and the scarcity of resources. In the desert, temptation easily becomes a claim for what seems to be lacking. In those poisonous snakes we can read all those feelings that still poison human relationships and prevent us from walking together. The people, however, become aware of their sin and turn to Moses to ask for his intercession. And here the account in the book of Numbers speaks of a particular symbol, the 'raising' of a bronze serpent that the people had to look at in order to be saved from the poison of those serpents. Looking is an act of faith, as the book of Wisdom (16:7) reminds us in commenting on this passage: For the one who turned towards it was saved, not by the thing that was beheld, but by You, the Saviour of all." Jesus, in his dialogue with Nicodemus, evokes precisely this biblical episode to speak of the cross and the 'Son of Man raised up.' While in their murmuring the people looked back on the ground they had trodden with weariness and nostalgia for their past slavery, to continue their journey it is necessary to lift our gaze from ourselves, and be guided by the One who let others lifted him up for our salvation