From the responsorial psalm: “But he, being merciful, forgave their sin and destroyed them not; Often he turned back his anger and let none of his wrath be roused. Do not forget the works of the Lord!”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 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.
Jesus refers to the story of Moses lifting up the bronze serpent mounted on a pole. Just as Moses lifted that to save people who had been bitten by a serpent, Jesus himself says that he will be lifted up on the cross so that everyone who believes may have eternal life. A necessity of this is gratitude and faith in what is true and lasting. This connection between the two—the bronze serpent and the crucifixion—reveals the merciful means God uses to save his people and set them free even though they may be unaware or ungrateful. How does God call us today to look on his Son lifted up in the crucifixion?
God, help me see the message of salvation in today’s Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. You brought salvation to the Israelites through the obedience of Moses to your will, and your Son brings salvation to all who believe in him through his obedience to you even to death on the cross. For this reason, as Saint Paul says, “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.” Give me the grace to recognize how Christ draws me to himself to hear and obey your will. Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.