Reflection for Tuesday, 5th Week of Lent 

By

 

Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

TODAY'S GOSPEL VERSES 

John 8: 23 - 26 

But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” 

“Who are you?” they asked. 

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied.  “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” 


TODAY'S REFLECTION 

The Serpent & the Cross 

The Symbol of Israel’s Sin, the Serpent that with Its Poisonous Bite, is Changed into an Instrument of Salvation. Moses made a Bronze Serpent & Mounted It on a Pole, so that all who look upon It Admitting Their Sin & Regretting Their Offence were Cured by the LORD. The People Come to a New Outlook when They Admit that Sin Brings Sorrow & Death, that Their Grumbling is Destructive, & that Their Contempt for the Manna Provoked GOD'S Anger. This Bronze Serpent has a somewhat Murky History. Long Before Moses Cast this Figure in Copper, the Serpent was a Popular Figurine in Canaanite Fertility Rituals. It was a Serpent that Symbolized the Devil in Genesis 3. Perhaps It was because of This Pagan Background that Moses’ Bronze Serpent later became an Object of False Worship & was Destroyed as an idol by King Hezekiah (2 Kgs 18: 4).

Paradoxically the Early CHURCH Recognized in This Symbol a Sign of JESUS on the Cross. Saint Paul Wrote: “For Our Sake GOD made the Sinless One to be Sin, so that in HIM We might become the Very Holiness of GOD” (2 Cor 5: 21). In the Goodness, Compassion & Forgiveness of JESUS We Recognize by Contrast Our Own Violent & Harsh Attitudes. The very Image of JESUS on the Cross Shows the Effects of Human Violence but also Reveals “the Kindness & Love of GOD Our Saviour” (Tit 3: 4). The “Miraculous Interchange” of which the Liturgy Speaks is that while JESUS Conforms to Us Externally (Adopting Our Humanity), We are Enabled to Conform to HIM internally, becoming Children of GOD. HIS Goodness Forces the Poison of Our Sinfulness Out of Our System, by HIS Enduring with Love the Violence of the Crucifixion, & through HIS Act of loving Self-Surrender, We Come to Belong Like JESUS to the FATHER who is Above All.

Good Morning

Have a blessed day

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