John 3:13-17

Numbers 21:4b-9

Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38

Philippians 2:6-11

John 3:13-17

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

“No one has gone up to heaven

except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,

so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him might not perish

but might have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

but that the world might be saved through him.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I am humbled by the immensity and depth of your love. You did not spare your own Son but sent him into the world to die for us and release us from the ancient curse of death. You love me with an eternal love. Help me return that same love.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It recalls the discovery of the relic of the True Cross by St. Helena in A.D. 326. It is celebrated on September 14 because the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher took place on September 13, 335, and the veneration and public exaltation of the cross happened on the following day, September 14. The feast, which began in the seventh century, also celebrated the recovery of the relic from the Persians in A.D. 628 by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. The Persian Emperor Khosrau (Chosroes) II captured Jerusalem in A.D. 614 and took the relic of the True Cross as a trophy. Over a decade passed until Heraclius successfully defeated the Persians. He placed the relic first in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, but then returned the relic to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in a grand ceremony on March 21, 630. Today, we honor the cross of Christ as the instrument of Christ’s redemptive and salvific death and as the symbol of God’s love for us. 

2. Voluntarily Confronting Suffering: The episode in the First Reading, in Numbers 21, has a profound psychological and theological dimension. By having the people of Israel look at the image of the bronze serpent, it was an invitation to the people to voluntarily confront their sufferings, trials, temptations, and tribulations. This is an important step to heal psychologically from a trauma and to grow in maturity. In the moral and spiritual life, we need, with God’s help and guidance, to confront the root causes of our sin, to do battle against the temptations of this world, to choose the path to the blessing of life over the path to the curse of death. God’s remedy is not to take away our suffering, but to help us grow and mature through suffering. The model is Jesus Christ, “who learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). Just as Jesus’ human nature was perfected through his life, passion, death, and resurrection, so also our nature will be perfected through sharing in Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection.

3. The Hymn in Philippians 2: Jesus’ humiliation and glorification is the dynamic outline of the great hymn to Christ found in the Second Reading, from Philippians 2. Christ humbled himself for us in his incarnation and crucifixion; therefore, God the Father exalted him highly, and all creation will confess him as Lord (Philippians 2:6-11). “Christ’s willing death on the cross is not only the greatest act of self-giving love for others (Romans 5:8; Galatians 2:20) but also the very charter of the Philippians’ salvation as God’s redeemed people. God calls the Philippians to live as the people of this self-giving Lord, who set aside the glory that was rightfully his as God’s eternal Son and humbly gave himself for others” (Prothro, The Apostle Paul and His Letters, 193). 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you were lifted up on the cross for the forgiveness of sins and to reconcile us with the Father. You were innocent, yet condemned. You were sinless, yet bore our sins. Grant me a share in your suffering so that I may also share in your exaltation.

Living the Word of God: What do I see when I look upon the crucifix? God’s wrath? The effect of my sin? God’s love? Can I set aside time today or tomorrow to contemplate the crucifix and ask God to reveal the depth of his love to me?