DAILY- HOMILY

September 14, 2017 – THURSDAY, EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS

Feast, Red

Nm 21: 4b- 9 / Phil 2: 6- 11 / Jn 3: 13- 17

     Public veneration of the Holy Cross dates to the fourth century when St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, discovered the true cross in Jerusalem in 326.

1st READING:     Nm 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:   Phil 2: 6- 11

     Though being divine in nature, he did not claim in fact equality with God, 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 READING:           Jn 3: 13- 17

     Jesus said to Nicodemus, "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

     In the liturgy of Good Friday there is a public adoration of the Holy Cross where the Cross is uncovered, "Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the salvation of the world," and venerated by the faithful.

     This Feast echoes the same celebration, "We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered."

     Adoration of the Holy Cross is adoration of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our salvation. The Cross symbolizes for us the passion, death and resurrection of Christ.

     Because of what it represents, the Cross is the most powerful and universal symbol of Christian faith and love. The sign of the Cross invokes the Triune God and is used at all blessings:

     The first reading tells us about the bronze serpent Moses made at the instruction of Yahweh: "Whenever a man was bitten [by a

fiery serpent], he looked toward the bronze serpent and he lived." Jesus on the cross is our salvation.

     Jesus refers to the bronze serpent in his conversation with Nicodemus, "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."

     In the reading from Paul's letter to the Philippians, Paul tells us how God has glorified Jesus for his obedience, "He humbled himself by being obedient to death, death on the cross."

     St. Ignatius of Loyola recommends that, as we contemplate Jesus on the Cross, we ask: "What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for him? What ought I do for him?"

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY 

     CHRISTOPHER KING W. CHUA

     KEVIN PATRICK CHING SYLING

     MARIE CHARISSE V. INUMERABLE

     MERTZ BERNARDO

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY 

     ERIC & EUNICE YU AMPIL

     ESTELLA & DAVID SOON ENG SIN

IN MEMORIAM (†)

     EDISON CO YU (MAR. 4,1952 ·SEPT. 14, 1993)

OTHER INTENTIONS:

For the healing & recovery of Perla Diaz Rarela.

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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