Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Numbers 21.4b-9

They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea,
to go around the land of Edom.
The soul of the people was very discouraged because of the journey.
The people spoke against God and against Moses,
“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread, and there is no water,
and our soul loathes this worthless food.”

The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people.
Many people of Israel died.
The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned,
because we have spoken against the Lord, and against you.
Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.”
Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole.
It shall happen that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the pole.
If a serpent had bitten anyone, when they looked at the serpent of bronze, they lived.

Responsorial – Psalm 78.1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38 Resp. 7b

R. Do not forget God’s deeds.

Hear my teaching, my people.
Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable.
I will utter dark sayings of old.

R. Do not forget God’s deeds.

When he killed them, then they sought him.
They returned and inquired after God earnestly.
They remembered that God was their rock,
that the Most High God was their redeemer.

R. Do not forget God’s deeds.

But they flattered him with their mouth,
and lied to him with their tongue.
For their heart was not right with him,
neither were they faithful to his covenant.

R. Do not forget God’s deeds.

But he, being merciful, forgave their iniquity,
and did not destroy them.
Yes, many times he turned his anger away,
and did not stir up all his wrath.

R. Do not forget God’s deeds.

Reading 2 – Philippians 2.6-11

Brothers and sisters:
Christ Jesus,
though existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being made in the likeness of humans.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death,
yes, the death of the cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him,
and gave to him the name which is above every name;
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.

Gospel – John 3.13-17

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
No one has ascended into heaven,
except he who descended out of heaven:
the Son of Human.

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Human be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him
should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world,
but that the world should be saved through him.

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Numbers 21.4-9

They traveled from Mount Hor
by the way to the Red Sea,
to go around the land of Edom.
The soul of the people was very discouraged
because of the journey.
The people spoke against God
and against Moses,
“Why have you brought us up
out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread,
and there is no water,
and our soul loathes this worthless food.”

The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people,
and they bit the people.
Many people of Israel died.
The people came to Moses, and said,
“We have sinned,
because we have spoken against the Lord,
and against you.
Pray to the Lord,
that he take away the serpents from us.”
Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses,
“Make a fiery serpent,
and set it on a pole.
It shall happen that everyone who is bitten,
when he sees it, shall live.”
Moses made a serpent of bronze,
and set it on the pole.
If a serpent had bitten anyone,
when they looked at the serpent of bronze, they lived.

Responsorial – Psalm 102.2-3, 16-18, 19-21 Resp. 2

R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.

Hear my prayer, the Lord!
Let my cry come to you.
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear to me.
Answer me quickly in the day when I call.

R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.

The nations will fear the Lord’s name,
and all the kings of the earth your glory.
For the Lord has built up Zion.
He has appeared in his glory.
He has responded to the prayer of the destitute,
and has not despised their prayer.

R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.

This will be written for the generation to come;
a people yet to be created will praise the Lord.
For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary.
From heaven, the Lord saw the earth;
to hear the groans of the prisoner;
to free those who are condemned to death;

R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.

Gospel – John 8.21-30

Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“I am going away, and you will seek me,
and you will die in your sins.
Where I go, you cannot come.”
So the Jews said,
“Will he kill himself, that he says,
‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

He said to them,
“You are from beneath. I am from above.
You are of this world. I am not of this world.
So I said to you that you will die in your sins;
for unless you believe that I am,
you will die in your sins.”

So they said to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them,
“Just what I have been saying to you
from the beginning.
I have many things to say
and to judge concerning you.
But he who sent me is true;
and the things which I heard from him,
these I say to the world.”

They did not understand
that he spoke to them about the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you have lifted up the Son of Man,
then you will know that I am,
and I do nothing on my own,
but as my Father taught me, so I speak.
He who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”