Today’s Readings – Thursday of week 18 of Ordinary Time - First Reading

Commentary on Num 20:1-13

Yesterday’s reading is followed in Numbers by a long section of laws governing sacrifices, powers of priests and Levites (chaps 15-19 incl).

The main theme of the section we are entering is the steady advance of God’s chosen people despite all opposition on their part. Today is the final passage we will be taking from the book and is an account of another sad confrontation between Yahweh and his people.

The Israelites are very near the end of their long journey.

We are told that the whole community of the Israelites arrived at the desert of Zin on the first month of the year and that the people settled in Kadesh. The desert of Zin was a barren region with a few good oases, lying southwest of the Dead Sea.

It is the first … Continue

Yesterday’s Readings – Saint John Mary Vianney

St John Mary Vianney, Priest (Memorial)



John Baptist (Jean-Baptiste) Vianney was born at Dardilly, near Lyons, in 1786. He was the son of a farmer and spent his early life as a shepherd boy. He got little formal schooling. The anti-religious violence of the French Rev … Continue