Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Lectionary: 638
Lectionary: 638
With their patience
worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,
“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!”
In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,
“We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live.”
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
the people complained against God and Moses,
“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!”
In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,
“We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live.”
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Responsorial PsalmPS 78:1BC-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
R. (see 7b) Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Hearken, my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable,
I will utter mysteries from of old.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
While he slew them they sought him
and inquired after God again,
Remembering that God was their rock
and the Most High God, their redeemer.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But they flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues,
Though their hearts were not steadfast toward him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But he, being merciful, forgave their sin
and destroyed them not;
Often he turned back his anger
and let none of his wrath be roused.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Hearken, my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable,
I will utter mysteries from of old.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
While he slew them they sought him
and inquired after God again,
Remembering that God was their rock
and the Most High God, their redeemer.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But they flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues,
Though their hearts were not steadfast toward him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But he, being merciful, forgave their sin
and destroyed them not;
Often he turned back his anger
and let none of his wrath be roused.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Reading 2PHIL 2:6-11
Brothers and
sisters:
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
GospelJN 3:13-17
Jesus said to
Nicodemus:
“No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
“No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Meditation: "So must the Son of Man
be lifted up"
Do you know the
healing power of the cross of Christ? Jesus explained to Nicodemus the
necessity of his impending crucifixion and resurrection by analogy with Moses
and the bronze serpent in the desert.When the people of Israel were afflicted
with serpents in the wilderness because of their rebellion and sin, God
instructed Moses: "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and
every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live" (Numbers 21:8).
The bronze serpent points to the cross of Christ which defeats sin and death
and obtains everlasting life for those who believe in Jesus and in his victory
on the cross. The result of Jesus "being lifted up on the cross" and
his rising and exaltation to the Father's right hand in heaven, is our
"new birth in the Spirit" and adoption as sons and daughters of God.
God not only redeems us, but he fills us with his own divine life and power
that we might share in his glory.There is no greater proof of God's love for his fallen creatures. "To ransom a slave God gave his Son" (an ancient prayer from the Easter vigil liturgy). God sent his Son to free us from the worst of tyrannies – slavery to sin and the curse of death. Jesus' sacrificial death was an act of total love in self-giving. Jesus gave himself completely out of love for his Father. And he willing layed down his life out of selfless love for our sake and for our salvation. His death on the cross was both a total offering to God and the perfect sacrifice of atonement for our sin and the sin of the world.
John tells us that God's love has no bounds or limits (John 3:16). His love is not limited to one people or a few chosen friends. His love is limitless because it embraces the whole world and every individual created in "his image and likeness". God is a persistent loving Father who cannot rest until all of his wandering children have returned home to him. Saint Augustine says, God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us to love. God gives us the freedom to choose whom and what we will love and not love. Jesus shows us the paradox of love and forgiveness and judgment and condemnation. We can love the darkness of sin and unbelief or we can love the light of God's truth, goodness, and mercy. If our love is guided by truth, goodness, and that which is truly beautiful, then we will choose for God and love him above all else. What we love shows what we prefer. Do you love God who is the supreme good above all else? And do you seek to put him first in all your thoughts, cares, choices, and actions?
God's love has been poured into our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). Do you allow God's love to purify your heart and the way your treat others? Do you allow God's love to transform your mind and the way you think of others? Do you allow God's love to conquer every unruly passion and addiction that would enslave you to sin and harmful behavior? The Holy Spirit gives us his seven-fold gifts of wisdom and understanding, right judgment and courage, knowledge and reverence for God and his ways, and a holy fear in God's presence (see Isaiah 11) that we may live God's way of life and serve in the power and strength of his enduring love and mercy. Do you thirst for new life in the Spirit?
"Lord Jesus Christ, your death brought life for us. Fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may walk in freedom and joy as a child of God and as an heir with Christ of an eternal inheritance."
www.dailyscripture.net
 God So Loves Me |
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The Exaltation of
the Holy Cross
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Father Patrick Butler, LC
John 3: 13-17
Jesus said to Nicodemus: "No one has
gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of
Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son
of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal
life." For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world might be saved through him.
Introductory Prayer: Your word in the Gospel reveals to me the beauty of the
mystery of the Cross. I open myself now to you with a believing heart. Your
love for humanity is so present in what you say. You give me hope that the
world can be changed by your message of love. I want to be more like you, a
lover of the Father, a lover of my brothers and sisters to the point of
giving my life for them.
Petition: Lord, exalt the cross in my mind and my
heart, that I might see it as an instrument of love.
1. Jesus’ Identity: Nicodemus comes to Jesus to find out who
this miracle worker is. Jesus tells him that he is the Son of Man and God’s
Son. He has come down from heaven and will return there. Now that he has
identified himself, he has gotten Nicodemus’ attention and mine. His answer
to the first question does not satisfy us because it has brought up several
other questions. How can he claim to be the Son of God when there is but one
God? If he is truly God’s Son, why has he come down to earth? What does he
want or expect from me?
2. A Savior Greater Than Moses: Moses had, at God’s command, led Israel out
of slavery in Egypt. When the people rebelled in the desert, they were
punished by fiery serpents that bit them with poisonous venom. Moses
intervened on their behalf, making a bronze image of a serpent, placed on a
post; those who looked at it were saved. Jesus saves humanity from its
rebellion, not by a symbol raised on a stick, but by sacrificing himself as
he was raised on a cross. He saves me not from temporal death, but from
eternal death. He is indeed a Savior greater than Moses.
3. The Degree of God’s Love: How much does the Father love me? If we
could measure love on a thermometer, God’s infinite love would send the
mercury out the end. His love is boundless. What would he withhold from me if
he has already given his son to save me? My sentiments upon contemplating the
immensity of God’s love for me should be gratitude, praise and a
reciprocating love towards him.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I am moved when I discover how much
you love me. You came down from heaven, becoming the Son of Man so that I
could know, love and imitate you. You loved me to the extreme of offering yourself
up on the cross to save me from sin and death. I want to love you in return
to the point of giving my life for you.
Resolution: I will contemplate the cross as a symbol of
love, making it a symbol that says something to me whenever I see it. I will try
to bear my cross today with love.
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
FEAST OF THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS
JOHN 3:13-17
(Numbers 21:4b-9; Psalm 78; Philippians 2:6-11)
FEAST OF THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS
(Numbers 21:4b-9; Psalm 78; Philippians 2:6-11)
KEY VERSE: "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up" (v 14).
READING: On the Israelite's trek to the Promised Land, they ran out of food and water and were worn out from their long journey. The people complained against God and Moses that they had been brought out to the desert to die. They forgot the works of the Lord and did not hear God�s words of mercy. As punishment for their lack of trust in God�s providence, some of them were bitten by snakes and died. When Moses interceded on behalf of the people, God commanded him to make an image of a serpent (the ancient symbol of evil) and mount it on a pole. All who looked upon it were healed. How could healing be found in gazing at such a mysterious sign? Jesus made an analogy of the bronze serpent to the saving power of the cross, a sign of both sin and redemption. When God lifted Jesus up, "exalted" him, in the resurrection, the cross was no longer a sign of shame and defeat, but a sign of victory and salvation. Those things in our lives that cause pain and suffering can be an instrument for deliverance. Jesus came into the world to bring healing not judgment, salvation not condemnation, life not death.
REFLECTING: Do I adorn my home and person with the cross, the symbol of God's saving love?
PRAYING: When you hear abuse of Jesus' sacred name, bow your head and say, "Jesus Christ is Lord!"
FEAST OF THE EXALTATION
OF THE HOLY CROSS
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross originated in Jerusalem in 355 to commemorate the dedication of the Basilica of the Resurrection. When the true cross of Jesus was found shortly afterwards, the Feast of the Exaltation supplanted the feast of the dedication. In 395, St. John Chrysostom wrote of three crosses that were discovered beneath Golgotha by the Empress Helena. Many others write of miracles that occurred through contact with the true cross. The Holy Cross was kept in the Basilica of the Resurrection in Jerusalem until 614 when the Persians conquered the city and burned the church. In 628, Emperor Heraclius III defeated the Persians and returned the Holy Cross to Jerusalem. A portion of the cross was taken to Rome in the seventh century by Sergius I, a Pope of Byzantine origin. Catholic Christians identify themselves by making the sign of the cross, and wearing the cross as a sign of their faith. Catholic churches, walls of homes and gravesites are marked with a crucifix (a cross with the corpus), the sign of Jesus' power over evil and death. During the first two centuries of Christianity, the cross was rare in Christian iconography, as it depicted a painful and gruesome method of public execution. The Ichthys, or fish symbol, was used by early Christians. Even during a century relatively free from persecution after Constantine's Edict of Milan (313 AD) declaring Christianity a tolerated religion didn't make most Christians comfortable enough to display the cross. This doesn't mean that early Christians neglected the cross. Apparently the custom of making the sign of the cross on one's forehead was widespread fairly early. Tertullian wrote about 204 AD: "At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign."
www.daily-word-of-life.comThe Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross originated in Jerusalem in 355 to commemorate the dedication of the Basilica of the Resurrection. When the true cross of Jesus was found shortly afterwards, the Feast of the Exaltation supplanted the feast of the dedication. In 395, St. John Chrysostom wrote of three crosses that were discovered beneath Golgotha by the Empress Helena. Many others write of miracles that occurred through contact with the true cross. The Holy Cross was kept in the Basilica of the Resurrection in Jerusalem until 614 when the Persians conquered the city and burned the church. In 628, Emperor Heraclius III defeated the Persians and returned the Holy Cross to Jerusalem. A portion of the cross was taken to Rome in the seventh century by Sergius I, a Pope of Byzantine origin. Catholic Christians identify themselves by making the sign of the cross, and wearing the cross as a sign of their faith. Catholic churches, walls of homes and gravesites are marked with a crucifix (a cross with the corpus), the sign of Jesus' power over evil and death. During the first two centuries of Christianity, the cross was rare in Christian iconography, as it depicted a painful and gruesome method of public execution. The Ichthys, or fish symbol, was used by early Christians. Even during a century relatively free from persecution after Constantine's Edict of Milan (313 AD) declaring Christianity a tolerated religion didn't make most Christians comfortable enough to display the cross. This doesn't mean that early Christians neglected the cross. Apparently the custom of making the sign of the cross on one's forehead was widespread fairly early. Tertullian wrote about 204 AD: "At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign."
Do not forget the works of the Lord!
‘The Son of Man must be lifted up.’
Such is the triumph of the Cross - from it alone has come the power to set us free: ‘that cross that stands eternal at the centre of the universe, radiant in everlasting love’. It is a constant reminder of the price that ensures the kingdom of redeeming love.
Such is the wonder of the cross that the contradictions and trials we encounter are caught up in it when we live in the Spirit, striving to be loving, merciful and forgiving because our merciful Saviour loves and forgives us. ‘For he has broken the gate of brass and cut the bars of iron asunder. The prison doors are opened, the dawn is still and clear. The paths of life have found us and we are led through into that marvellous light.’
www.churchresources.info
September 14
Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Early in the fourth century St. Helena, mother of the Roman
Emperor Constantine, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy places of Christ's
life. She razed the second-century Temple of Aphrodite, which tradition held
was built over the Savior's tomb, and her son built the Basilica of the Holy
Sepulcher over the tomb. During the excavation, workers found three crosses.
Legend has it that the one on which Jesus died was identified when its touch
healed a dying woman.
The cross
immediately became an object of veneration. At a Good Friday celebration in
Jerusalem toward the end of the fourth century, according to an eyewitness, the
wood was taken out of its silver container and placed on a table together with
the inscription Pilate ordered placed above Jesus' head: Then "all the
people pass through one by one; all of them bow down, touching the cross and
the inscription, first with their foreheads, then with their eyes; and, after
kissing the cross, they move on."
To this
day the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox alike, celebrate the Exaltation
of the Holy Cross on the September anniversary of the basilica's dedication.
The feast entered the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor
Heraclius recovered the cross from the Persians, who had carried it off in 614,
15 years earlier. According to the story, the emperor intended to carry the
cross back into Jerusalem himself, but was unable to move forward until he took
off his imperial garb and became a barefoot pilgrim.
Comment:
The cross is today the universal image of Christian belief. Countless generations of artists have turned it into a thing of beauty to be carried in procession or worn as jewelry. To the eyes of the first Christians, it had no beauty. It stood outside too many city walls, decorated only with decaying corpses, as a threat to anyone who defied Rome's authority—including Christians who refused sacrifice to Roman gods. Although believers spoke of the cross as the instrument of salvation, it seldom appeared in Christian art unless disguised as an anchor or the Chi-Rho until after Constantine's edict of toleration.
The cross is today the universal image of Christian belief. Countless generations of artists have turned it into a thing of beauty to be carried in procession or worn as jewelry. To the eyes of the first Christians, it had no beauty. It stood outside too many city walls, decorated only with decaying corpses, as a threat to anyone who defied Rome's authority—including Christians who refused sacrifice to Roman gods. Although believers spoke of the cross as the instrument of salvation, it seldom appeared in Christian art unless disguised as an anchor or the Chi-Rho until after Constantine's edict of toleration.
Quote:
"How splendid the cross of Christ! It brings life, not death; light, not darkness; Paradise, not its loss. It is the wood on which the Lord, like a great warrior, was wounded in hands and feet and side, but healed thereby our wounds. A tree has destroyed us, a tree now brought us life" (Theodore of Studios).
www.americancatholic.org"How splendid the cross of Christ! It brings life, not death; light, not darkness; Paradise, not its loss. It is the wood on which the Lord, like a great warrior, was wounded in hands and feet and side, but healed thereby our wounds. A tree has destroyed us, a tree now brought us life" (Theodore of Studios).
LECTIO: THE
EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS - JN. 3,13-17
Lectio:
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Anyone who believes in Jesus has eternal life.
Opening prayer
Oh Father who wanted to save man
by the Cross of Christ, your Son,
grant to us who have known on earth
his mystery of love,
to enjoy in Heaven the fruits of his redemption.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
1. LECTIO
Reading:
Jesus said to Nicodemus: 'No one has gone up to heaven except
the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man; as Moses lifted up the snake
in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up so that everyone who
believes may have eternal life in him.
For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.
For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.
2. MEDITATIO
a) Key for the reading:
The text proposed to us by the Liturgy has been taken from the
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It should not surprise us that the
passage chosen for this celebration forms part of the fourth Gospel, because,
it is precisely this Gospel which presents the mystery of the cross of the
Lord, as the exaltation. This is clear from the beginning of the Gospel: “as
Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up”
(Jn 3, 14; Dn 7, 13). John explains the mystery of the Incarnate Word in the
paradoxical movement of the descent-ascent (Jn 1, 14.18; 3, 13). In fact, it is
this mystery which offers the key for the reading in order to understand the
evolution of the identity and of the mission of the passus et gloriosus of
Jesus Christ, and that we may well say that this is not only valid for the text
of John. The Letter to the Ephesians, for example, uses this paradoxical
movement to explain the mystery of Christ: “Now, when it says, ‘he went up’, it
must mean that he had gone down to the deepest levels of the earth” (Ef 4, 9).
Jesus is the Son of God who becoming Son of man (Jn 3,13) makes
known to us the mysteries of God (Jn 1, 18). He alone can do this, in so far as
he alone has seen the Father (Jn 6, 46). We can say that the mystery of the
Word who descends from Heaven responds to the yearning of the prophets: who will
go up to heaven to reveal this mystery to us? (cf. Dt 30, 12; Pr 30, 4). The
fourth Gospel is over fool of references to the mystery of he who “is from
Heaven” (1 Co 15, 47). The following are some quotations or references: Jn 6,
33. 38.51. 62; 8, 42; 16, 28-30; 17, 5.
The exaltation of Jesus is precisely in his descent to come to
us, up to death, and the death on the Cross, on which he was lifted up like the
serpent in the desert, which, “anybody… who looked at it would survive” (Nm
21,7-9; Zc 12,10). John reminds us in the scene of the death of Jesus of Christ
being lifted up: “They will look to the one whom they have pierced” (Jn 19,
37). In the context of the fourth Gospel, to turn and look means, “to know”,
“to understand”, “to see”.
Frequently, in John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about his being
lifted up: “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I
am He” (Jn 8,28); “when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all peoples
to myself. By these words he indicated the kind of death he would die” (Jn 12,
32-33). In the Synoptics also Jesus announces to his disciples the mystery of
his condemnation to death on the cross (see Mt 20, 27-29; Mk 10, 32-34; Lk 18,
31-33). In fact, Christ had “to suffer all that to enter into his glory” (Lk
24, 26).
This mystery reveals the great love which God has for us. He is
the Son given to us, “so that anyone who believes in him will not be lost, but
will have eternal life”, this Son whom we have rejected and crucified. But
precisely in this rejection on our part, God has manifested himself to us his
fidelity and his love which does not stop before the hardness of our heart. And
even in spite of our rejection and our contempt he gives us salvation (cf. Acts
4, 27-28), remaining firm in fulfilling his plan of mercy: God, in fact, has
not sent his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world may be saved through him”.
b) A few questions:
i) What struck you in the Gospel?
ii) What does the exaltation of Christ and of his cross mean for you?
iii) What consequences does this paradoxical movement of descent-ascent imply in the living out of faith?
ii) What does the exaltation of Christ and of his cross mean for you?
iii) What consequences does this paradoxical movement of descent-ascent imply in the living out of faith?
3. ORATIO
Psalm 77 (1-2, 34-38)
My people, listen to my teaching,
pay attention to what I say.
I will speak to you in poetry,
unfold the mysteries of the past.
pay attention to what I say.
I will speak to you in poetry,
unfold the mysteries of the past.
Whenever he slaughtered them,
they began to seek him,
they turned back and looked eagerly for him,
recalling that God was their rock,
God the Most High, their redeemer.
they began to seek him,
they turned back and looked eagerly for him,
recalling that God was their rock,
God the Most High, their redeemer.
They tried to hoodwink him with their mouths,
their tongues were deceitful towards him;
their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.
their tongues were deceitful towards him;
their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.
But in his compassion he forgave their guilt
instead of killing them,
time and again repressing his anger
instead of rousing his full wrath.
instead of killing them,
time and again repressing his anger
instead of rousing his full wrath.
4. CONTEMPLATIO
"Jesus Christ as Lord,
to the glory of God the Father." (Phil 2,11)
www.ocarm.orgto the glory of God the Father." (Phil 2,11)
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