We are often reminded that God does things differently to man. There are examples of this in both the Old and the New Testaments. For example, when the prophet Samuel was sent to Jesse’s home to select one of his sons to succeed Saul as king, it wasn’t the eldest warrior son chosen but the young musical shepherd who God anointed as the next king of Israel [1Samuel 16]. Likewise, at the time of Jesus, the Jewish leaders were hoping for a Messiah who would overthrow the Roman occupiers; instead, Jesus came speaking of peace, love and forgiveness.

In the first reading today, the people in the wilderness who spoke against God and Moses started to be attacked by poisonous serpents, many of the people perished. Nowadays if we are aware of a hazard, we might post signs to make people aware to either avoid the hazard or to take the right precautions to minimise the risk of the hazard becoming realised. We have no expectation that a sign we post would be an antidote for the danger; our signs are about prevention. God instructed Moses to have a bronze serpent made so that those who trusted in God would look at the elevated bronze serpent and survive. Hence, our ever-merciful God, provided a remedy to the punishment He created for those who returned to Him.

In the Gospel Jesus tells us that no-one but He has ever ascended into heaven. He then goes on to remind his audience that just as Moses lifted up the serpent, so too would He be lifted up. Just as the people in the wilderness were given another chance to repent and seek forgiveness; so too would those who follow Jesus. Instead of a serpent, we would be given the Cross. The Jewish leaders at the time of Jesus saw the cross as the ultimate symbol of humiliation for Jesus. But remember God sees things differently to mankind, the serpent who killed was turned into an image which could save, the Cross of death and humiliation exchanged for the symbol of eternal salvation. But these gifts from God only apply when we have faith in the promises made in relation to them.

In the second reading of the Office of the Church today, St Andrew of Crete says; “How great the cross! What blessings it holds! He who possesses it possesses a treasure. More noble, more precious than anything on earth, in fact and in name, it is indeed a treasure, for in it and through it and for it all the riches of our salvation were stored away and restored to us.”[1]Today is a reminder for us of how crucial the Cross is to our Faith, as St Paul tells us, “The language of the cross may be illogical to those who are not on the way to salvation, but  those of us who are on the way see it as God’s power to save” [1 Corinthians 1:18].

Some questions to ponder –

·        Is the Cross displayed in a prominent place within my home?

·        Do I view the Cross as a treasure?

·        How would I explain that the Cross has the power to save to a non believer?

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Further Reading

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

CCC 613-623: Christ’s death is the unique and definitive sacrifice
CCC 662: elevation on the Cross and the Ascension
CCC 555, 1816, 2015: the Cross as the way to follow Christ

[1] St Andrew of Crete, Homily, taken from The Divine Office, Volume III, [HarperCollins Publishing, London, 1974] 253*.

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HOLY CROSS

The Cross is the Christian symbol above all others. It hangs in our churches, we trace its mark on our bodies, we receive its blessing from the priest at Mass. Where a relic of the True Cross is present it is venerated with a devotion second only to the Blessed Sacrament itself: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, for by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

In the beginning, our first parents were deceived by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil when Satan beguiled their minds. In the fullness of time, the Son of God used the tree of the Cross to beat Satan at his own game. He turned a sign of death into a sign of life and hope.

The preface for this feast proclaims: For you placed the salvation of the human race on the wood of the Cross, so that where death arose, life might again spring forth, and the evil one who conquered on a tree might likewise on a tree be conquered, through Christ our Lord.

Satan has ever pleaded with God for power: to torment Job, to sift the apostles like wheat, to crucify Christ. And God often gives Satan what he asks for, for when evil has full rein, the glory of God can shine forth more splendidly.

Here is God's wisdom and Satan's folly. The evil one cannot understand God's secret and hidden wisdom, or he would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Wanting to nail God to an accursed thing he succeeded only in releasing a blessing on all mankind and turning an instrument of shame into a badge of honour. Satan's hatred only served to magnify an infinite Love.

Bidding Prayers

Let us pray for all who glory in the Cross of Christ, that nothing may separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Let us pray for all who bear the cross of sickness and infirmity, that Christ crucified may be their strength and encouragement at all times.

Let us pray for the faithful departed, that having been conformed to the pattern of Christ's Cross they may share in the glory of his resurrection.

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These hymns have been chosen from the Laudate hymnbook:

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636 I received the Living God

899 Lord make me a means of your peace

840 God of mercy and compassion

663 Sweet sacrament divine