September 14, 2015
Feast
of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
I’m not sure if you had a chance to watch the Notre
Dame football game this past Saturday (I’m sure you probably have it recorded
on your television so that you will be able to watch it later) but it ended in
a Notre Dame victory in the very last seconds of the game with our 2nd
string quarterback at the helm because our 1st string promising star
quarterback broke his ankle earlier in the game, and a quintessential Hail Mary Pass thrown perfectly for the
winning touchdown for a total upset over Virginia!!!! (By the way, the Hail
Mary pass was originated by the Four Horsemen of yes, Notre Dame, in the 1930’s
in case you were wondering) I was watching
the end of the game with my family because we were going to go out for an early
dinner. I made them wait until the game was over and we collectively decided
that the ONLY thing that could save the game would be a Hail Mary Pass and the very next play was an answer to that
request! Don’t you just love it when that happens? If you really knew me you
would know that my favorite kind of football plays are trick plays or
extraordinary means. It doesn’t matter what team is playing, even USC, if they
pull off a well executed trick play, they have my respect. I think I like them
so much because of the surprise element and one of my favorite qualities about
God is the way He surprises me everyday, and I also like how most trick plays
quite honestly look like a choreographed dance (it always comes back to
dancing!).
The reason I am talking about Notre Dame today has
two layers. The first is that I noticed that the super shiny and beautiful
golden dome helmets worn by the Fighting Irish had a round black sticker on the
back with the name Fr. Ted on it. Fr. Ted Hesburgh died within the past year
and was Notre Dame’s president for 35 years. He is a remarkable man and I
encourage you to watch this inspirational video about his life and the
contributions he has made to God, Country, Notre Dame and the world. https://youtu.be/XiGyqH6L9QU He is a pivotal player in why Notre Dame is
such a great institution and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the football team is
honoring his memory on their helmets. We should be talking about those people
that have changed the world and if just one person looked up Fr. Ted because of
that sticker on their helmets, the world would be a better place because of it.
The next layer for talking about Notre Dame today is that it is the Feast of
the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which is feast day for the Congregation of
the Holy Cross and the founding order of the University of Notre Dame. It just
seemed appropriate to me.
Today’s readings are intertwined beautifully. The
first reading is one of those Indiana Jones type scenes. The Israelites are
guess what, complaining about the food AGAIN!! Some things never change right?
So God is like, I’ll send you some snakes to eat! Except the venomous snakes tried
to eat the Israelites instead. Yikes as I picture that iconic snake scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark (https://youtu.be/ClwIj3x24Q4).
In typical Israelite fashion, they came back to Moses with a big “we were just
kidding” or “We
have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the
serpents from us.” God had Moses put a snake on a pole and tell the people that
anyone who was bitten by a snake can just look at the pole and live. It worked.
Fast forward to today’s gospel and this very story is referenced in the ever
famous (and another football game reference!!) John 3:16. To Nicodemus Jesus
says, “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.” Our venomous snakebites are of course the sin that we allow to
debilitate our lives. The Israelites were constantly challenged with
complacency, wanting life to be easy, forgetting the kindness of the Lord,
getting caught up in the idols of the world, misusing religion, and focusing on
complaining rather than giving thanks. Those things were the venomous snakes
that caused them pain. We have the equivalent of such things in our own lives
and it is only when we run to the cross and lay those things down at the feet
of Jesus that we can even begin to live a life of freedom.
“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 did not come to sentence us to death he came to rescue us
from death. I love watching videos of people being rescued by a first
responders like from a rushing river, or the side of a cliff, or being carried
out of a house on fire because it shows me what this passage from John looks
like. Christ rescues us from death so that we might live. Anyone that has been
rescued from death has a completely different outlook on life from that moment
on. Today let us look at our own rescue story and understand that Christ is
reaching his hand down to us from the cross, it’s up to us to take his hand and
begin living with a new outlook on everything. We exalt the cross because it
heals, and we exalt Christ because he saves us from death. The essence of the Hail Mary Pass implies that divine
intervention is the only way this play will work and the same is true for us,
the divine intervention of God loving us so much that he sacrificed his only
Son to take our place in our impending death, is the only way we will live.
Let’s look to the cross today and remember that we have been saved.
P.S.
Please do watch the Fr. Ted video, as it truly is inspirational. Go Irish.
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Lectionary: 638
Reading 1 NM 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.
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.
Responsorial Psalm PS 78:1BC-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
R. (see 7b) Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Hearken, my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable,
I will utter mysteries from of old.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
While he slew them they sought him
and inquired after God again,
Remembering that God was their rock
and the Most High God, their redeemer.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But they flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues,
Though their hearts were not steadfast toward him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
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.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Hearken, my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable,
I will utter mysteries from of old.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
While he slew them they sought him
and inquired after God again,
Remembering that God was their rock
and the Most High God, their redeemer.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But they flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues,
Though their hearts were not steadfast toward him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
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.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Reading 2 PHIL 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.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your Cross you have redeemed the world.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
“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.
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.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your Cross you have redeemed the world.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel 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.
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