Thoughts on the Holy Cross

John 3:13-17

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

For God so loved the world

In history today's feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross celebrates the recovery of the True Cross from the Persians in the year 629.

But more important to us today, the feast reminds us of the centrality of Jesus' sacrifice for our salvation. Our Lord's suffering and death on the Cross brought about our salvation, and what we must always remember is that at every Mass Jesus' same sacrifice is continued and once again offered to the Father.

Every Mass continues to make present to us both the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. The Mass makes present the Last Supper because bread and wine become the sacred meal of the Body and Blood of Christ. And the Mass makes present the Crucifixion. On the Cross Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice in a bloody manner to the Father.

At Mass Jesus offers Himself – through the ministry of the priest – to the Father as a sacrifice in an unbloody manner. 

It is the same sacrifice of Jesus; only the manner is different. The same Christ who offers Himself to the Father as a sacrifice now gives Himself to us as heavenly food.

 

At Mass we also hear Our Lord speaking to us through the Gospel. On this feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross we hear what some say is the very essence of the Gospel:

           “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.”

Here is the most simple and direct proclamation of the Gospel; here is truly the Good News:

Through the “lifting up” of God’s Son on the Cross and our belief in God’s Son and His message (His Good News), we will be saved. We will not perish in death; rather, we will have eternal life.

Through this central teaching of the Gospel, three important characteristics of God’s love emerge.

1. The initiative in all salvation comes from God 

           God is not angry; He does not have to be pacified; He does not have to be persuaded to forgive.

           Our salvation started with God. It was He who sent his Son because He loved us.

2. The essence of God’s being is love

           God does not act for His own sake, but for ours. He does not seek to satisfy Himself; He seeks to satisfy us completely, perfectly. God is the Father who cannot be happy until His wandering children have come home. He does not compel; He does not dominate into submission. Rather, He yearns for us and tries to draw us to Himself by love.

3. God’s love encompasses all

           The Gospel says that “God so loved the world” – not only a nation, a race, a people; not only the good; not only those who love Him. God loves the unlovable and the unlovely who no one else loves. He loves those who resist His love as well as those who do love Him. It is believed that St. Augustine said, “God loves each of us as though each were the only one who existed.”

These three characteristics of God’s love shine through the mystery and the glory of the Cross.

It is a mystery why God chose that way to save us, but it is our ultimate consolation that the Cross proves without doubt God’s love for us. How will I respond to Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross, which is continued at every Mass? How will I respond to God’s love?

  Don Saunders, S.J.