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Firstly, the snakes were sent to punish those who complained and moaned against God and His servant, Moses.
Secondly, some people died in their sin.
Thirdly, those who cried out for mercy were healed by looking towards the bronze serpent, an analogy for the Crucifixion,
Why?
Christ on the Cross took on all the sins of mankind--all. He was the offering to God the Father for our sins, so that we could be healed and freed from sin. If we look towards Christ on the Cross, we shall be healed.
We have to look at our sin; we have to look at Christ. Self-knowledge comes from reason cooperating with grace. Moses forced the people to look at the punishment on the cross-like structure to be healed.
We have to look at Christ takng our punishment upon Himself to be healed.
Sin comes not only from the passions, but from faulty thinking moved only by the passions. Reason is the gift from God which can be enlightened by grace and study, to bring us all to repentance.
Numbers 21:4-9Douay-Rheims
4 And they marched from mount Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom. And the people began to be weary of their journey and labour:
5 And speaking against God and Moses, they said: Why didst thou bring us out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor have we any waters: our soul now loatheth this very light food.
6 Wherefore the Lord sent among the people fiery serpents, which bit them and killed many of them.
7 Upon which they came to Moses, and said: We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and thee: pray that he may take away these serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the Lord said to him: Make brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live.
9 Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.
Some readers still do not see the connection between heresies, mortal sin, excommunication and the lack of reason in the Church members, both lay and clerical.
Love, and I repeat, is in the will, not in the passions or the emotions. Love in the will is an act of choice which is informed by the intellect, Now, both the will and the intellect may be influenced either by grace, or by sin.
Years and years of people giving into passions and emotional responses deadens the intellect to the point where some people can no longer choose virtue over vice.
Any sin is rooted in vice, venial as well as mortal. And, it is God's will that we are free from venial as well as mortal sin.
Venial sin is still some kind of selfishness, some kind of weakness giving over to vice.
Allowing God to perfect one in the journey through the Dark Night, coming out into Illumination, and eventually Union consitutes the call of every Catholic.
The laity, more than ever, since the papacy of Blessed Paul VI, who encouraged the laity to take hold of their faith, must "man-up" and become holy, with the aid of God's grace and reason.
Over a year ago, I wrote on this blog that the Age of Mercy is coming to an end, and the Age of Trial will begin. Under acute suffering, some people will turn to God and appropriate their adult faith, thus choosing the road to sanctity.
Most will not, out of ennui, sloth lust, anger, envy, greed, gluttony, pride and so on. It is a hard thing to stand back and state that many of our clerical leaders have actually chosen capital sins over the life of virtue.
Remember, there is no neutral territory in the spiritual life. One is either with God or against God.
Too many Catholics have simply refused to learn their own faith.
I encouraged readers to us all my posts which are worthy of copying out for groups in your homes. I especially encourage the use of the series, such as reparation, discernment, perfection, Doctors of the Church, and all the posts on the encyclicals.
Time will outstrip our efforts. We shall all be overtaken by the great silence of religious discussion.
Please do not waste time and resources.