A WORD FOR TODAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2019

A WORD FOR TODAY

Today the universal Church celebrates the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It is a feast in which we remember once again that our salvation, liberation, healing and victory over sin and death came through the death of Jesus on the cross.

We venerate the cross, because our Lord Jesus Christ by dying on it has sanctified it and made it to be the way that leads to life. In the eyes of the people, he who hung on the cross is cursed and evil, but Jesus took our curse upon Himself and nailed it on the cross so that we shall be set free.

Jesus died on the cross in obedience to the Father. He humbled Himself and took the form of a servant as recorded in the second reading of today. He endured the pain of the cross, because He knew that something good and pleasant will come out of it. As a result of His obedience, the Father has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name._

For every cross we carry and endure for the sake of Christ, there will always be a moment of exaltation and glory. We must not run away from carrying our cross to follow Jesus, because He has given us an example to emulate. If we intend to be with Him on the last day in heaven, we must love the way of the cross, because it is the only way that leads to eternal life.

Jesus in the gospel reading reminded Nicodemus that as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness as we have in the first reading of today, so shall the Son of Man be lifted up, that anyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. The action of Moses was a foreshadowing of what will happen in the future through Christ.

The Father in His love gave His Son to the world and anyone who believes in Him and draws closer to Him will have eternal life, healing, mercy, forgiveness, restoration and sanctification. Sin brings death, but by His death on the cross Jesus has destroyed the power of the devil who conquered man on the tree at the garden of Eden.

If we intend to continue to enjoy the benefits of Christ's death on the cross, we must, in obedience to Him, love the cross and carry it everyday to follow Him. We must be ready to make sacrifices of love and die for others so that they will find life through our actions.

When we make the sign of the cross it does not only remind us that it is a symbol of our faith, but more importantly it raises our mind to the action of Jesus and what He suffered and endured in order to bring us salvation. We also hide ourselves in Him for divine protection.

There will never be a crown without a cross and this is what Jesus has shown us by coming to walk the way of the cross and after His death He was raised into glory. Therefore, in following Him we must know that the way of the cross is the way to glory and there is no short cut to it, because it is the only way. The death of Christ on the cross symbolises true love and anyone who wants to love like Jesus must be ready to die for others to live.

Good morning dearest one. Smile😊as you do your work and do have a splendid weekend. May the death of Jesus on the cross give you the strength to conquer your weakness and overcome the works of darkness. Amen. And may the Almighty God bless you: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Meditation: Numbers 21:4-9/Psalm 78:1-2,34-38/Philippians 2:6-11/John 3:13-17

Watch-Word: We adore you, O Christ and we bless you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

His death on the cross brought us salvation, therefore we must value the cross in our lives as a means of gaining eternal life of glory.

(Saturday of the 23rd week in the Ordinary Time, Year 1. Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross)