MASS READINGS MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 2021 FIRST READING "I cannot carry all this people on my own" Reading the Book of Numbers 11 : 4b-15

MASS READINGS 

MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 2021 

FIRST READING 

"I cannot carry all this people on my own" 

Reading the Book of Numbers 11 : 4b-15 

In those days,

in the desert,

    the children of Israel began to cry again:

“Ah! who will give us meat to eat?

    We still remember the fish

we ate for nothing in Egypt,

and the cucumbers, melons, leeks,

onions and garlic!

    Now our throats are parched;

we never see anything but manna! "

    The manna was like coriander seeds,

it looked like amber.

    The people dispersed to collect it;

then it was crushed under the grindstone,

or it was crushed with a pestle;

finally, it was cooked in the pot

and made into pancakes.

It tasted like an oil treat.

    When the dew descended on the camp during the night,

the manna descended on it. 

    Moses heard the people weep,

grouped into clans, each at the entrance to his tent.

The Lord was inflamed with great anger.

This displeased Moses,

    and he said to the Lord,

“Why treat your servant so badly?

Why have I not found favor in your eyes

that you have placed the burden of all these people on me?

    Was it I who conceived all these people,

was it I who gave birth to them,

so that you would say to me:

“As one carries an infant,

carry this people in your arms

to the land that I have sworn to give to your fathers ”?

    Where can I find meat

to give to all these people,

when they come to cry next to me and say,

“Give us meat to eat”?

    I cannot carry all these people on my own:

it is too heavy for me.

    If this is how you treat me, then kill me;

yes, kill me, if I have found favor in your eyes.

May I not see my misfortune! " 

    - Word of the Lord.