May the Lord bless you with peace and health in the Holy Spirit.
It is 14th September 2021.
We celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
Our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi used to kneel and recite in every church he entered the following prayer, “We adore you, Lord Jesus Christ, here, and in all your churches throughout the world, and we bless you, for by your holy cross you have redeemed the world. Amen”
Without the Cross of our Lord, there is no grace of God to humanity. The Cross was a symbol of humiliation until Jesus carried it but now it remains the healing tree of God. The tree in the Garden of Eden that humiliated humanity is now replaced by the Holy Cross of our Lord Jesus, the Tree of Life. Whoever looked at the Cross will never be brought down in their personal and social life. Yes, the cross symbolises the salvation of our souls and bodies. How many families have this symbol of hope and salvation in our homes?
The Cross of Jesus is the symbol of faith not an ornament and for fancy display. It brings us closer to the memory of the passion, death of our Lord. Jesus died on the wood of the Cross and brought us salvation.
We reflect from Numbers 21:4-9; Phil 2:6-11 and the Gospel of John 3:13-17.
The Lord encouraged all of us not to be afraid of cross and suffering. Lifting up lives and gazing at His Cross, we all can experience everything the Cross could offer. “He who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake shall find it” (Matt 10:38,39).
St. John compares the lifting up of the Son of Man with the lifting up of the bronze serpent in the desert. Eternal life comes by lifting our lives to the Lord no matter what we are going through. Everything can be made pure, whole, and cleansed by the Cross. Hence, the Cross of Jesus remains a mystery that explores and exposes suffering and connecting vertically and horizontally to God and people respectively. Unless we crucify and die for our sins, we cannot rise to new life.
May the Lord help us to embrace the Cross so as to grace our life and others. God bless you.