Tuesday of the 5th Week of Lent
Mass Readings
First Reading – Nm 21:4-9
From Mount Hor 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 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 away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph 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.
Responsorial Psalm – 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21 (R.2)
R. 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.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily. R.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer. R.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.” R.
Gospel – Jn 8:21-30
Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
Featured Saints
St. Dionysius, bishop (†180). Gifted with an extraordinary knowledge of the Word of God, he taught the faithful of Corinth by preaching, and instructed Bishops of other dioceses through letters.
St. Amantius of Como, Bishop (†449). Of English origin, he became Bishop of Como, Italy, where he built a basilica in honour of Sts. Peter and Paul in which to house the relics of the two Apostles that he had acquired in Rome.
St. Agabus (First century). One of the 72 disciples of Jesus, he is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. He had the gift of prophecy and foresaw a great famine throughout the world (Acts 11:28) and the imprisonment of St. Paul on his return to Jerusalem (21:10-11).
St. Julie Billiart, virgin (†1816). She founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Namur and ardently propagated devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Blessed Clement of Osimo, priest (†1291). Prior General of the Hermits of St. Augustine, he prudently reformed the laws of the Order.
Blessed Augustus Czartoryski, priest (†1893). Young Polish prince admitted to the Salesian Congregation by St. John Bosco, despite his poor health. He died of tuberculosis at age 34 in Alassio Savona, Italy.
Blessed Dominic of the Blessed Sacrament Iturrate, priest (†1927). Spanish priest of the Trinitarian Order. He died in the odour of sanctity two years after his ordination.
Blessed Julian of St. Augustine, religious (†1606). Religious of the Order of the Discalced Brothers Minor, he bore the incomprehension of others owing to his practice of austere penances.
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