Nm 21:4b-9
Ps 78
Phil 2:6-11
Jn 3:13-17
"We adore Thee O Christ
and we bless Thee,
Because by Thy Holy Cross
Thou hast redeemed the world."
Those of us who attended Lenten Stations of the Cross on Fridays while we were in parochial school have an almost Pavlovian urge to genuflect at the beginning of today’s gospel antiphon. The only change being that it was easier to get up then than it is now.
The Gospel antiphon reminds us that the cross is the main support for our lives
and the life of the world.
The antiphon reminds us: In Cruce salus.
“In the Cross is our salvation.” It also encapsulates the Carthusian motto:
Stat Crux Dum Volvitur Orbis “The Cross stands firm while the world revolves.”
Without the cross there is no Church.
Without the cross there is no salvation.
Without the cross there ain’t nothin’.
The narrative of Moses lifting up a bronze serpent is remarkable when we recall that this was a people to whom graven and carved images were forbidden, a people on whom the golden calf brought down Moses’ wrath at Sinai. But here, the image of a serpent on a pole reversed the punishment that the Lord had sent on the people as they were preparing to enter the Promised Land.
The Jewish Study Bible notes that, “Rabbinic interpreters were disturbed by the magical nature of this cure, and suggested that it was the glance of the afflicted to their father in heaven, rather than the snake, which resulted in the cure.” Some commentators suggest that these verses prefigure Jesus’ crucifixion. John’s Gospel makes that connection. where we read in chapter 10: “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.”
The Cross was the most shameful of all means of execution in the Ancient Near East. It was a form of execution reserved for slaves and other dregs of humanity.
But through Jesus’ humble obedience the cross became, and remains, the living sign of salvation venerated throughout the universe.
“For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perishbut might have eternal life.”These verses comprise a mine field for preachers and a stumbling block for many who confront their own deaths or the death of a loved one.
In his commentary on this verse the late Jesuit Father Stanley Marrow points out that these words do not mean that one will not die. As he puts it, “What the gospel of John proclaims . . . is “eternal life” not exemption from dying, and certainly not immortality, but the overthrow of the power of death itself."
Anyone doing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, be it in the traditional 30-day form, the 19th Annotation, or simply returning to part of them while on an annual retreat, encounters an instruction in the first days that is referred to throughout the exercises. It is known as the triple colloquy. Ignatius instructs the one making the Exercises as follows,
“Imagine Christ our Lord present before you upon the cross, and begin to speak with him. Ask yourself how it is that though He is the Creator, He has stooped to become man, and to pass from eternal life to death here in time, that He might die for our sins.”
After allowing a suitable amount of time for meditating on this Ignatius instructs the exercitant to make the colloquyby asking himself or herself:
“What have I done for Christ?
What am I doing for Christ?
What ought I to do for Christ?”
This Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross is an ideal time to make this meditation. Look at the cross in your room and after a suitable period of time,
ask yourself:
“What have I done for Christ?
What am I doing for Christ?
What ought I to do for Christ?”
And then after reflecting on the colloquy repeat the antiphon:
“We adore thee O Christ
and we Bless Thee,
because by Thy Holy Cross
Thou hast redeemed the world.”
_________________________________________
Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
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