When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me, says the Lord
The First Reading of the Mass brings us a passage from the Book of Numbers in which it is narrated how the people of Israel began to murmur against the Lord and against Moses, because, although they had been liberated and brought out of Egypt, they were tired of walking towards the Promised Land. The Lord, as punishment, sent poisonous snakes to bite them, and many Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses, acknowledging their sin, and Moses interceded with God to deliver them from the serpents. The Lord said to him, "Make a snake and put it on a banner: those who have been bitten by a snake will be healed when they look at it. Moses made a bronze serpent and placed it on a pole; when a serpent bit one, he looked at the bronze serpent and was healed.
This Old Testament passage, besides being a historical account, is a figure and image of what was to take place later with the coming of the Son of God. In Jesus' intimate conversation with Nicodemus, the Lord makes a direct reference to this story: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes may have eternal life in him. Christ on the Cross is the salvation of mankind. Christ on the Cross is the salvation of the human race, the remedy for our ills. He went willingly to Calvary so that whoever believes may have eternal life, to draw all things to Himself.
The serpents and the poison that attack in all ages the people of God, pilgrims towards the Promised Land, Heaven, are very similar: selfishness, sensuality, confusion and errors in doctrine, laziness, envy, murmuring, slander.... The grace received in Baptism, called to its full development, is threatened by the same enemies as always. In every age the wounds of original sin and personal sins are felt.
We Christians must seek the remedy and the antidote - like the Israelites bitten by the serpents in the desert - in the only place where it is found: in Jesus Christ and in his saving doctrine. We cannot but look to him elevated above the earth on the Cross, if we truly wish to reach the Promised Land, which is at the end of this short road that is life. And since we do not want to arrive alone, we will see to it that many others look to Jesus, in whom is salvation. To look at Jesus: placing before our eyes his Most Holy Humanity, contemplating him in the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, in the Stations of the Cross, in the scenes narrated in the Gospel, or in the Tabernacle. Only with great piety will we be strong in the face of the harassment of a world that seems to want to separate itself more and more from God, dragging with it those who are not on firm and safe ground.
We cannot take our eyes off the Lord, for we see the ravages of the enemy around us every day. And no one is immune by himself. Vultum tuum, Domine, requiram: I will seek your face, Lord, I desire to see you. We should seek strength in friendship with Jesus, through prayer, through the presence of God throughout our day and in the visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Moreover, the Lord, Jesus, is not only the remedy for our weakness, but He is also our Love.