It is 14th September 2017. We celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the instrument of our salvation. The entrance antiphon so beautifully portrays, “We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered.” (Gal.6:14). God’s Only Son Jesus saved us all by using merely the wood of a tree that once dried the springs of divine life within the First Parents of humanity. Christ symbolically used the wood of the tree that made the humanity to go through a bitter shame and guilt in the Eden garden to alleviate the pain and sufferings of us all. It is through His personal excruciating pain, suffering, and death on the Cross, He saved us all. The serpents of Pleasure, Power and Poverty are tormenting the humanity in most parts of the world even today. The expulsion of these evil serpents can only happen by the exaltation of the Most Holy Cross of the Lord in our lives. More we ignore the Cross of Jesus, more we will be tormented by the Evil. The readings are from Numbers 21:4-9; the second reading is from Philippians 2:6-11; and the Gospel from John 3:13-17. The first reading describes the pain of the Israelites and their bitter complain about the tormenting pain by the serpents. The serpents of pleasure that annihilate the relationship with God is still among us today. Most of us are bitten by the serpents and are tormented by the same in our daily lives. Unless and until we get recourse to the help from God, we will remain a complainer. We need to make a choice to turn to God in times of pain and sufferings. We need to look up to God by all means as swiftly as possible. The venom of the sin is so poisonous that could disconnect the relationship with the living God for the rest of our lives. The antidote for such venom is in the Holy Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The responsorial Psalm reminds us, “Do not forget the works of the Lord.” (Ps.78:7). St. Paul cements our faith in Him pointing out that Jesus became Christ by His obedience through His humility and even to the point of death on the Cross. We are assured in the Gospel by a promise, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (Jn.3:17). We are redeemed and saved by Christ through the wood that purified by His Blood. The Catechism asserts, “The Kingdom of God will be definitively established through Christ’s Cross: ‘God reigned from the wood.’” (CCC.550) May you have a good day.