"The cross of Christ is about love, hope and salvation."  

 

＊＊＊1st Reading＊＊＊

Numbers 21:4b-9

The people were discouraged by the journey and began to complain against God and Moses,

"Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?

There is neither bread nor water here and we are disgusted with this tasteless manna."

The Lord then sent fiery serpents against them. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died.

Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, speaking against the Lord and against you.

Plead with the Lord to take the serpents away."

Moses pleaded for the people and the Lord said to him, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard;

whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live." So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard.

Whenever a man was bitten, he looked towards the bronze serpent and he lived.

 

＊＊＊2nd Reading＊＊＊

Philippians 2:6-11

Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,

but emptied himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and in his appearance,

found as a man.

He humbled himself by being obedient to death, death on the cross.

That is why God exalted him and gave him the name which outshines all names,

so that at the name of Jesus all knees should bend in heaven, on earth and among the dead,

and all tongues proclaim that Christ Jesus is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

＊＊＊Gospel＊＊＊

John 3:13-17

No one has ever gone up to heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man.

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not be lost,

but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead,

through him the world is to be saved.

 

Lectio Divina

＊＊＊Reflection＊＊＊

"The cross of Christ is about love, hope and salvation."

The cross was an instrument of agonizing death, so why do we give it exalted status?

We do so because of the One who was nailed to it. Only Jesus, God made man,

could break the bonds of sin and death and he did so by dying on the cross and rising again.

Jesus changed the cross from being an object of shame into a means of victory.

By faith we realize that the cross of Christ is about love, hope and salvation.

The cross becomes the greatest expression of God's infinite love for us and in turn,

by our fidelity to him in our sufferings, the cross becomes the greatest expression of our love for him.

Let's imitate the Lord. Let's share in his cross, so as to share in his glory.

 

Pray: Meditate with a crucifix today. Look upon the cross and adore Christ your Savior.

 

Act: Help shoulder the burden of Christ's cross in another person's life.