People undergoing counselling and therapy sometimes have a block or memory, which is holding them back, usually an earlier difficult experience of some kind. Something like that is happening in the Old Testament folk tale of the bronze serpents: the power of the serpents to cause harm is taken away once they are confronted straight in the eye, through the symbol of the bronze serpent. We may say the same of Jesus as he faced death for us. Being lifted up for our sake, he looked death in the eye and took away its power over us.

Prayer
Loving God, in your beloved Son, lifted up for our sakes, you took away the power of sin and death. Help us to continue to live as people set free, so that we may come to the eternal life you hold out to us. Amen.

K O’Mahony OSA