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Exodus 30:17-21
New Catholic Bible
Exodus 30:17-21
New Catholic Bible
17 The Basin for Washing. The Lord said to Moses, 18 “You shall make a basin out of bronze, with a base of bronze, for ablutions. Place it between the meeting tent and the altar and fill it with water. 19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it.[a] 20 When they enter the meeting tent, they shall perform an ablution with water, lest they die. Thus, whenever they approach the altar to minister, to burn an offering unto the Lord with fire, 21 they shall wash their hands and their feet so that they might not die. This shall be a perpetual statute for him and his sons, for all their generations.”
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- Exodus 30:19 Cleansing before worship was so important that failure to be properly washed before entering the tent was tantamount to a death sentence for priests. We can take from this the necessity of preparing ourselves (i.e., confessing our sin), before we celebrate Eucharist. We do this as a community with the Penitential Act.
