What we can come to know in today's reading from the book of Numbers 21:4-9 and the Gospel of John 8:21-30 is to come in humble adoration before the Lord seeking only He who can heal us from our affliction of sin and eternal death. When we are fed the word of God we can reject it, question it, or tire from listening to it as the Israelites grew tired of wandering in the desert and eating manna which God provided to feed His people. In questioning we can be like the Pharisees who are quick to hear and question rather than to come to understand the word of God. But what do the Israelites and the Pharisees have in common in today's readings? They relied on their own strength and understanding complaining and questioning the ways of God rather than to rely on the strength and saving grace of our Lord. To put it in today's perspective, it's like hiring an amateur to do a professional's job. We would not hire or rely on a plumber to do open heart surgery on ourselves. No way! We would seek out the medical professionals, the doctors, to perform such a task. Same thing goes with our faith as Catholic Christians. We have to rely on the one true professional of our faith and that is Jesus Christ. I don't care if you are the world's most awful sinner or the world's greatest priest or theologian. We all need the grace of God to get by the day. A good priest would tell you that they too see Jesus as the high priest and that no authority is greater than His despite what today's culture would say about our practices and traditions as Catholics. If we can get one thing out of today's readings is that we are called to learn more about our faith and that it will take more than reciting the words of God every Sunday at Mass; it will take living the words of God beyond the walls of our Churches taking it out in our daily lives and practicing what we preach no matter what the circumstances may be. Without Christ the stress of the world would eventually crush us so let us seek ye first the Kingdom of God.
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