March 24th,

2006, Tuesday of the fifth week of Lent.

A reading from the book of Numbers.

From Mount Hore, the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea Road

to bypass the land of Edom.

But 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 Saraf 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 away from us.

So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses,

make a serap and mount it on a pole,

and whoever looks at it after being bitten 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.

The Word of the Lord.

The response is,

O Lord, hear my prayer and let my cry come to you.

O Lord, hear my prayer and let my cry come to you.

Hide not your face from me in the day of my distress.

...