Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Lent
Numbers
21:4-9 —
John 8:21-30
March
23, 2010
Verse for Recollection
throughout the Day:
“When you lift up /
the Son of Man /
then you will realize
that /
I AM.”
[John 8:28]
Reflection:
In these reflections mention has been made of “types”: in theology, a type
foreshadows some future person, thing or event.
In Catholic theology, most typology consists of Old Testament types that
foreshadow Christ. Today’s First Reading
offers one of the more intriguing set of types.
The bronze serpent is Christ. That might seem a strange analogy (or
typology, to be more accurate), but as with all good theology, consider the
context. The pole is the Cross. Moses is those who, believing they follow the
Law, put Christ on the Cross (“When you lift up the Son of Man…”).* The mounting of the serpent on the pole is the
Crucifixion.
Now we
begin to see that the First Reading’s typology illustrates what Saint Paul
describes through abstract—though nonetheless real—ideas: “For our sake [the Father] made him to be sin who did not
know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). These two forms of theology—using typology,
and using abstract ideas—are not in conflict, but illuminate each other.
But wait a minute. The last phrase of Saint Paul’s words reminds us that there is one more element of
our First Reading’s typology: “…whenever anyone who had been bitten by a
serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered.” What do we see in
this? Hopefully, ourselves. Mankind itself is “anyone who had been bitten
by a serpent”, since we all descend from Adam and Eve, who ate of the Tree at
the encouragement of the serpent.**
First we have to recognize ourselves in this description, and then we
can have hope that the latter part of this sentence also applies to us.
Those who “looked at the bronze serpent, and lived” are those who gaze on Christ crucified with the gift of faith. Prepare for the events of the Sacred Triduum
by looking into an icon of Christ crucified, by meditating on a crucifix, by
praying the Stations of the Cross, and seeing your Salvation.
Reflection Question:
Do I see eternal Life when I gaze upon Jesus crucified?
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* Typology is
multivalent: a single element can
represent more than one thing. Moses
here can also represent Jesus Himself, since Jesus consents fully to the Cross,
recognizing His earthly vocation in It (“…and I, when I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men to myself.” [John 12:32]).
** This type may even
apply to Christ, in His human nature, and the Blessed Virgin. For it is through His human nature that Jesus
“becomes sin” for the salvation of
mankind. The Blessed Virgin, though she
was never touched by Original Sin and never committed any actual sin, was
preserved from Original Sin and aided to be able not to commit sin, only by the
grace of her Son’s Death and Resurrection, whose merits God bestowed upon her
preveniently. She was not preserved from
all of the effects of Original Sin, as she shared intimately in her Son’s
Passion at the foot of the Cross.
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Please pray for these intentions:
special
intention of V.
special intentions of E.
special intention of M.
special intention of L.
special intention of S.
prayers for a 16-year old,
D.,
who is on the wrong path
special intention of J.
special intention of T.
special intention of R.
special intention of N.
for T. who is suffering
from migraine headaches
for the gift of faith, by
M.
repose of the soul of Fr.
Stuchlik
special
intention of Fr. Hoisington
You
are invited to submit your own petitions to Father Hoisington by means of the Reflections Facebook group, or to his email address: hoisingtont@cdowk.org.
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