Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Feast, Exaltation of the Cross
September 14, 2006
Feast, Exaltation of the Cross
Thursday 23rd Week in Ordinary Time - Yr II
NUMBERS 21:4B-9
With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained
against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in
this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with
this wretched food!" In punishment the LORD sent among the people
saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. Then
the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned in complaining
against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us."
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, "Make a
saraph and mount it on a pole, and if any who have been bitten look at
it, they will live." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and
mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a
serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
PHILIPPIANS 2:6-11
Brothers and sisters: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he
emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to
death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father.
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..
REFLECTION
The Cross of Jesus has many different meanings. It signifies the
inhumanity of men and the humanity of God. It symbolizes the meaning
and value of suffering. It manifests divine forgiveness. It reveals the
power of sacrificial love and the victory of life over death.
Today's gospel focuses on the cross as symbol of God's forgiving love
for this evil world. "God so loved the world," John says, "that he gave
his only Son . . . " in order that sinful men and women might find
life. It's startling, isn't it, that God should love this world which
is marked indelibly, often brutally, by sin, that God should love this
world in which too often evil dominates and prevails over good?
God and Jesus, however, accepted this world it was, sinful. God gave
his son to this world, and, Jesus says, "The son has to be lifted up",
as the bronze serpent was lifted up in the desert. We know from the
first reading that those Jews who were made deathly sick in the desert
at the bite of a seraph serpent, needed only to look on the bronze
serpent to be saved from death. So also anyone in this evil world who
looks on Jesus, lifted up on the cross, and believes in him, will have
eternal life. God indeed loved the sinful world.
This means, clearly, that evil though the world is, we too are to love
it. It does not mean, of course, that we are to embrace the world's
values or exalt its idols, but simply - that we ourselves are to make
present in the world, Christ's compassionate, life-giving, universal
love.
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
- for the eternal repose of the soul of Fe Asis. Eternal rest grant
unto her and may perpetual light shine upon her. May she and all the
souls of the dearly departed rest in peace.
- In memoriam (+): John Carpio Jr, Carmelino Gozum, Rodolfo
Victoria, Rowena Lazarte
- for the personal intentions of Mikhaila and Ivan
- for the personal intentions of Audie Cabrera
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Bing A. Courtney
- Birthday: Acero Analyne Cu
- In Memoriam (+): Charlie Chongson, Jr. (1954-1975)
- for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
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