Gospel: September 14, 2024
(Saturday)
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Psalter: Proper / (Red)
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 78: 1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
Do not forget the works of the Lord!
1st Reading: Numbers 21: 4b-9
The people were discouraged by the journey and began to complain against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water here and we are disgusted with this tasteless manna.”
Yahweh then sent fiery serpents against them. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, speaking against Yahweh and against you. Plead with Yahweh to take the serpents away.”
Moses pleaded for the people and Yahweh said to him, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live.”
So, Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whenever a man was bitten, he looked toward the bronze serpent and he lived.
2nd Reading: Philippians 2: 6-11
Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and, in his appearance, found, as a man,
He humbled himself by being obedient, to death, death on the cross.
That is why God exalted him and gave him the name which outshines all names, so, that, at the name of Jesus all knees should bend in heaven, on earth and among the dead, and all tongues proclaim, that Christ Jesus is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Gospel: John 3: 13-17
No one has ever gone up to heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through him the world is to be saved.
Reflection: “He gave His only Son.”
Love is the very reason why God the Father sent his Son to the world, to save the world and not to condemn it. On the cross, Jesus Christ saved the world by carrying with him the sins of humanity (cf. 1 Pet 2:24). Jesus saved the world by taking up the responsibility rather than finding someone to blame. The cross symbolizes our salvation. It is also a symbol of the ongoing challenge that summons us to grow in terms of responsibility. We may reflect on the point that the world being referred to in today’s Gospel includes not only the world of human beings but also of the rest of the natural world. When human beings fell into sin, failing to be more responsible, they condemned not only themselves but also the natural world. On this Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, we reflect on God’s salvific act in Jesus that includes both humanity and the natural world. Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ is now on its ninth year and yet we may ask ourselves sincerely if we are living up to its challenge to care for our common home. How is our lifestyle vis-à-vis the world which God loves so much?
