The Cross – Source of Life Through Faith and Repentance
(Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 78; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17)
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There is much history behind today’s feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Legend has it that St. Helena, mother of Constantine, discovered the Holy Cross in 326. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was consecrated Sept. 13, 355. The Exaltation of Cross as a feast was celebrated the next day, Sept 14, and every year since then. The Cross was taken by Persian Emperor Khosrau 300 years later, recovered after 14 years by Roman Emperor Heraclitus, and taken to Constantinople. Interestingly, history reflects our experience – we take up the cross, leave it and take it up again.
Venerating the Cross, Jerusalem
Today’s feast invites us to put our faith in Jesus Christ, repent of our wrong-doing, and receive the gift of eternal life.
The first reading today sets the context for the gospel. The Chosen People had sinned, the sin of impatience with God. As a result, they were being bitten by poisonous snakes. When they cried out to Moses to intercede for them to God to get rid of the snakes, God reacts in a surprising way. God does not get rid of the serpents. Instead, God instructs Moses to make a bronze serpent, put it on a standard, and command the people to look at that serpent and they would live, and so they did.
There is some divine irony in these readings. The people are to look at a bronze serpent, a symbol of that which is afflicting them, their own sins, and they will be saved. The psalmist speaks of uttering “dark sayings of old” and goes on to describe how the people repented and turned to God when these snakes were killing them. There is a premonition here of the first words Jesus preached – “repent and believe – the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Maybe faith and repentance are “dark words” but they are also key to experiencing that kingdom.
How interesting that the 12 Step program of AA first calls for faith (“came to belief” in Step 2 and “God as we understood God” in Step 3), and then genuine, profound repentance (“searching and fearless moral inventory” in Step 4). This step connects us directly with the first reading – the program invites members to look at their own snakes, their own wrong-doing, as a prelude to being “saved” or forgiven in Step 5 (“admitted to God, ourselves and one other person the exact nature of our wrongs”). This is age-old wisdom and a very healthy spirituality.
In the Gospel, Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus about eternal life, and mentions to him those who believe in the Son of Man lifted up on a standard would have not just life, but eternal life. Of course, he was speaking of himself being crucified on the Cross. What is important here is Jesus on the Cross has no poison, no sin in him, so he would be able to save God’s people from their sins.
Jesus adds God’s motivation in doing this was, is and always will be, love for the human race. God does not want to punish or destroy. God wants only what is for our good – that we might be saved and share eternal life with him.
In fact, God sent Jesus into the world with a two-fold mission: to redeem and to sanctify, or in other words, to save and to heal. And that is what God will do in us and to us if we but put our complete faith in Jesus as the Son of God, repent of our sins (harmatia – falling short of the mark) and receive his forgiveness and healing.
Someone who did this well was Matt Talbot, an Irishman addicted to alcohol. He was an ordinary Irish labourer of no great learning, no remarkable accomplishments. He lived in poverty and died, alone and unrecognized on a cold cobblestone lane in Dublin. He left no family, no followers, no writings. Scarcely anyone knew a thing about him, yet within six months of his death, a brief biography sold 120,000 copies. Within a year, it had been published in 12 languages. Five years after that, the Catholic Church began investigating Matt Talbot’s life to determine if he warranted consideration for sainthood. A short 50 years after his death, the Church bestowed on him the title, “Venerable,” finding him fit to be commended as a “hero” whose virtues are worthy to be imitated.
Matt was the second of 12 children born of Charles and Elizabeth Talbot. The family lived on the verge of poverty due to the alcoholism of Charles. Eventually Matt and seven of his brothers followed their father’s footsteps, drinking their way through life. Over the next 16 years, as a messenger for a wine merchant and then as an unskilled labourer, Matt spent most of his earnings on alcohol.
One Saturday, out of work for a week and without money, Matt was rebuffed by his drinking buddies who refused to buy him a drink. He returned home dejected and sober, and determined to take the “pledge”, a solemn promise not to drink again. That evening he met with a priest, made his promise, and went to Confession for the first time in years. And from that day, the grace of God, which Matt hadn’t even thought to pray for yet, began to manifest itself in Matt.
Matt Talbot believed in God absolutely. Basically, he replaced his addiction to alcohol with faith in Jesus as the Bread of Life, attending daily Eucharist. He spent the rest of his life in humble service of others who were struggling with the same addiction, and could be considered today the patron saint of all people in recovery. He emptied his heart and life of all that encumbered him and waited for the Lord to fill him to overflowing. He remained sober for forty-one years and, in a quiet, unobtrusive way, shed light in the darkness around him. He stands now as a hero for all who struggle with addiction, and a model for all who desire, in the words of Pope Pius XII, “the greatness of Christianity lived in all its fullness.” (Ann Bottenhorn, The Word Among Us, January 2005, p. 59)
The Eucharist makes present for us the love of God for us through Jesus death on the cross. We are nurtured by God’s Word, and our communion with Jesus.
May our celebration today empower us to be like Matt Talbot, put our complete faith in Jesus, receive his forgiveness and healing, and express our faith through acts of love to all those in need.
May the message today remind us to ask God to forgive our sins and wrong doings every time we are tempted to sin against God. This means we are willing to go through reconcilation and ask God to forgive our sins and he will heal us from the inside. We are to repent and do good things. We are to ask people who we hurt to forgive us and make amends that we know what we had done wrong. This will never happen again. We are willing to change our ways and behavior to cope others and being this good person. We know that we have been healed from our sins by doing good things and walking the right path. So, we should have complete faith with Jesus Christ and trust him that he will save us from our sins and lead us to eternity. We are to have the love to forgive others and forgiving our enemies. Amen. Many Blessings !
Thanks Bishop Lavoie for reminding us about forgiveness and being healed through our faults ; ready to repent . Many of us has forgotten these teachings once in a while . I already know these teachings and lessons that we need to learn in this Catholic faith. Gracias ! Des Coloures!