D
distracted
Guest
September 14, 2009
**Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Lectionary: 638
Reading 1
Nm 21:4b-9**
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 from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
***“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and if any who have been bitten look at it, they 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
Ps 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
R. (see 7b) Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Hearken, my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable,
I will utter mysteries from of old.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
While he slew them they sought him
and inquired after God again,
Remembering that God was their rock
and the Most High God, their redeemer.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But they flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues,
Though their hearts were not steadfast toward him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But he, being merciful, forgave their sin
and destroyed them not;
Often he turned back his anger
and let none of his wrath be roused.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
**Reading II
Phil 2:6-11 **
Brothers and Sisters:
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in Heaven and on Earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Gospel
Jn 3:13-17
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“No one has gone up to Heaven
except the one who has come down from Heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
The people were worn out from their journey and complained…
I KNOW the feeling!! Sometimes i don’t think longevity is a good thing…
but anyhow… This psg is kinda scary because God punishes some even with death for (seemingly) only complaining. 
:coffeeread: Doesn’t God understand that we are only human? 
Sorry, God… just kidding…
Again it is so wonderful how the Church puts too passages together - one from the Old and one from the New Testament that have a common theme, in this case, the sceptor of MOses and the new one - Jesus…
Just looking at a crucifix as the Hebrews looked @ the sceptor of Moses… has power… which incidentally reminds me of a story i heard recently. This man was an atheist but he was supposed to meet someone in a Catholic Church (dont’ know any more details than that). Just from that short time being in the Church, the man dropped his atheism and believed… 
That doesn’t really surprise me, even though it is an unusual story… (Real PResence)
Jesus is awesome… He comes between us sinful humans and a perfectly holy (justifably wrathful) God… :hug1:*
**Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Lectionary: 638
Reading 1
Nm 21:4b-9**
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 from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
***“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and if any who have been bitten look at it, they 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
Ps 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
R. (see 7b) Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Hearken, my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable,
I will utter mysteries from of old.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
While he slew them they sought him
and inquired after God again,
Remembering that God was their rock
and the Most High God, their redeemer.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But they flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues,
Though their hearts were not steadfast toward him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But he, being merciful, forgave their sin
and destroyed them not;
Often he turned back his anger
and let none of his wrath be roused.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
**Reading II
Phil 2:6-11 **
Brothers and Sisters:
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in Heaven and on Earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Gospel
Jn 3:13-17
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“No one has gone up to Heaven
except the one who has come down from Heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
The people were worn out from their journey and complained…
I KNOW the feeling!! Sometimes i don’t think longevity is a good thing…
but anyhow… This psg is kinda scary because God punishes some even with death for (seemingly) only complaining. :coffeeread: Doesn’t God understand that we are only human? Sorry, God… just kidding…
Again it is so wonderful how the Church puts too passages together - one from the Old and one from the New Testament that have a common theme, in this case, the sceptor of MOses and the new one - Jesus…
Just looking at a crucifix as the Hebrews looked @ the sceptor of Moses… has power… which incidentally reminds me of a story i heard recently. This man was an atheist but he was supposed to meet someone in a Catholic Church (dont’ know any more details than that). Just from that short time being in the Church, the man dropped his atheism and believed… That doesn’t really surprise me, even though it is an unusual story… (Real PResence)
Jesus is awesome… He comes between us sinful humans and a perfectly holy (justifably wrathful) God… :hug1:*
