September 17 - Twenty fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time : The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

 

First Reading :  Numbers 21:4b-9
anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he or she was healed

 

Psalm  :  Psalm 78:1-2, 34-34, 36-37, 38
Do not forget the works of the Lord.

 

Second Reading:  Philippians 2:6-11
Jesus Christ, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped.

 

Gospel  :  John 3:13-17

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Gospel clearly shows us that when Moses raised the Serpent on a pole to save the people from their sins how this foretold that Christ would be lifted high on the cross to save us from our sins. For Christ took the price of all our sins upon himself and was raised. To us it is promised that if we look to him in faith we will be saved and exalted as well. This is the importance of the crucifix in the Christian Tradition. We do not have empty crosses because an empty cross didn't save us. Christ crucified is the sign of our salvation. You can choose to have your suffering have meaning by offering it for others. Or you can choose to have it be pointless by grumbling and complaining about it. My suggestion to you: Look to Christ crucified on the cross. Exalt the cross in your life. Live out your baptismal priesthood. You choose between freedom for meaning or freedom from meaning. You suffer for someone or you suffer from afflictions. The happiness and peace you seek (which means the triumph, the exaltation, the victory and the glory) is found (only) in the way of the Cross, the way of Christ.