Am I Carrying the Cross? Exaltation Of The Holy Cross
Sermon by Emmanuel Suntheni OSB – The Feast of the Exaltation Of The Holy Cross
Sermon and Christian Act In The Word
Theme: The mystery of the Cross is our Salvation! Through the Cross, I am saved! God of Love and Mercy!
Point of Reflection: Am I carrying the Cross? What kind of Cross am I carrying? May the Cross of Jesus Christ triumph in our lives! Today’s liturgy reminds us of the salvific element of the Cross and of God’s passionate love for us. The Cross is love. Aware of this, we must always be thankful for this mercy and love manifested on the Cross.
First Reading: Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm: Psalm 51:3–4, 12–13, 17, 19
Second Reading: Phil2:6–11
Gospel: John 3:13–17
Sermon (Reflection): Today, we celebrate the Exaltation of the Precious Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. But what does it mean to exalt the Cross? And how do we exalt it? The spiritual exaltation of the Cross in our heart and entire life. Christ says to us all: “If you will come after Me and be My disciple, deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Me.”Christ bore His Cross daily throughout His entire life on earth, not just at the time of His Crucifixion.
Christ, the Son of God and God from heaven, humbled Himself and became a man, subject to pains, weariness, sorrows, unjust sufferings, torture, and a shameful death.
Why did He do this? God created us for life, joy, peace, light, love, goodness, bliss, spiritual pleasure, and eternal rest in Him. But we have introduced sin, suffering, and death. As soon as man was created, he set up the Cross and crucified God upon it; he obliterated God from his own presence within him through sin.
Every sin is a crucifixion of Christ. Sin is turning away from God and falling away from living in Him and as Him. We crucify Christ when we hate someone. We crucify Christ when we judge or slander someone. We crucify Christ when we lust after someone. We crucify Christ when elevate ourselves in arrogance against someone. We crucify Christ when we blaspheme, or swear, or grumble, or complain against others and God.
In the first reading of the Book of Numbers and the Gospel of John Chapter 3, we see reference to Moses in the desert lifting a bronze serpent on a pole to protect and heal the people from the fatal bites of the saraph serpents. As we know, the Old Testament prefigures and anticipates Jesus and the New Testament so the bronze serpent on the pole prefigures the healing power and conquering of evil of the Cross of Jesus Christ. Today on this Feast we renew our embrace of the Mystery of the Cross of Jesus Christ.
In the second reading of today,w e renew in Philippians 2, with St. Paul, our commitment to kenosis or the self emptying of Christ on the Cross experienced in our own lives. St. Paul’s experience and embrace of the Cross is critical to understanding his mysticism and missionary spirit in Salvation history. St. Paul’s own life – beatings, stonings, imprisonments, shipwrecks and a “thorn in his flesh” – is a testimony to the mysterious power of the Cross and his own kenosis or self-emptying with Christ. St. Paul was an effective and vibrant missionary because he lived Christ Crucified. Every Cross he experienced was providentially designed to deepen his intimacy and mysticism with the Lord and to strengthen his missionary fortitude, perseverance and generosity. St. Paul teaches us that when we pick up our Cross and follow Jesus, we, at the same time, are Simons of Cyrene. Just as Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus to carry His Cross on the road to Calvary, so we, in union with Christ crucified, are mysteriously able to help others to carry their Crosses. We give encouragement that touches the souls of others deeply and inspirationally.
We become teachers of the power of the Cross because we have embraced the Cross with love and trust and are witnesses to the love that flows from the Cross and the light that streams from the Glorified Wounds of the Risen Christ.
In the gospel reading of today, our Lord’s commandment is unfolding the mystery of the cross which is love: John 13: “…Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one other.” The Cross deepens our Good Samaritan daily charity because it deepens our humility, our generosity and our fortitude, tenacity and perseverance. The Cross is the sole reason for the Incarnation, for the Coming of God the Son in our human nature. Our Lord Jesus Christ was incarnate in the womb of the ever-Virgin Mary for one only reason, so that He might suffer and die for us on the Cross and so win for us the gift of everlasting life by His Resurrection. In His instruction to Nicodemus, during His public ministry, our Lord Jesus made it clear that He must die on the Cross in order that we might have eternal life. He told Nicodemus: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life… For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3, 14-21).May the Cross of Jesus Christ triumph in our lives!
Christian Act in Word of God “I will Carry my Cross”
Soldiers of Christ, we are called to combat the confusion and error that enslaves the Church and society, in general, by following ever more intently and wholeheartedly the Way of the Cross. The crucifix, then, our most common and sublime object of religious devotion, is not a source of horror or shame for us. On the contrary, it is the sign of our salvation through the immeasurable love of God for us.
We can say in our hearts:
- The power of the Cross purifies us and leads us to repentance and interior peace.
- The power of the Cross directs us to the Catholic confessional and the Sacrament of Penance.
- The power of the Cross reminds us that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the unbloody renewal of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary
- The power of the Cross expands our contemplative concentration in prayer.
- The power of the Cross helps us to understand what comes and goes in life and what really lasts and is important.
- The power of the Cross gives us an active spirit of compassion and charity.
- The power of the Cross helps us to see life with the eyes of Eternity.
- The power of the Cross leads us to Heaven and to Eternal Life.
- The power of the Cross helps us to live heroically, courageously and faithfully.
So it was that God inspired Saint Francis of Assisi to pray, upon entering a church: “We adore you, Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all your churches in the whole world, and we bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”
During this month of September, especially when the liturgical calendar of the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the month of the Bible, let us thank God for the gift of His very life which is ours in the Church and in the Bible. Let us rededicate ourselves to dwell always in the Heart of God through His only-begotten Son, our Saviour. Let us embrace once again the Cross of the Saviour in which alone we find our salvation.
Action: This week, I will accept the cross
Prayer: God of Love and Mercy, by the Cross we are redeemed. We ask that You do not abandon us when we sin but lead us back to you. We make our prayer through Christ our crucified and risen Lord, Amen
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