By your Cross you have redeemed the world

Sisters and brothers in Christ, today (9/14) is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

As they raised Jesus up on the Cross, our Lord lifted all our wounds, pains, burdens, weaknesses, and doubts onto himself and said to his Father in heaven (and ours): "Forgive them for they know not what they do." The Redeemer came into the world for all of us. . . "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." He thirsts for us because he desires for us to be with him always, in this pilgrim life on earth but, most of all, in eternal life in heaven.

The path to salvation is through the Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is through the Cross that we are healed and made whole again. It is through the Cross that we come to know what authentic love is, that unconditional, sacrificial love that will the good of another even if it means death - as Saint Paul wrote, life is Christ and death is gain. And as we gaze upon the Crucified One, we learn to love others as God loves us and sent his Son to die for our sins. The path of the Cross is a challenging and difficult one but the alternate path is death.

Jesus tells us this Truth: ". . .the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." God gives us freewill to choose to take up our cross and follow Christ, or not. It is our choice. Let us always remember where the alternate path leads - death. . .

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your Cross you have redeemed the world.

. . .

Gospel of the Day

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.