Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Information about the Exaltation of the Holy Cross[1]
Readings for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Numbers 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Num 21:4b-9
The reading from the book of Numbers recounts another intervention by God along their sojourn in the desert. God had already provided “manna” which is what the Israelites in this reading now call “wretched food”. The people see a plague of venomous snakes as a punishment from God for their complaints about the hardships of their journey.
This event is seen by the Christian community as an analogy to the later crucifixion of Jesus; “If anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover: "and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting" (John 3:14-15).”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 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!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
Psalm 78 is a historical recital recounting the encounter of the Israelites with God; their rejection of His gifts and the punishments for these rejections. In this selection the psalmist recalls the journey in the wilderness. The rebellion of the people is met with punishment but later merciful forgiveness.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading II: Philippians 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Phil 2:6-11
This familiar passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians is known as the “Kenotic” hymn or “emptying” hymn. Christ empties himself of the complete divinity that is his essence and accepts the human condition. As true man he suffers the ultimate humiliation of death (on the cross). The second section of the hymn focuses on God’s resulting actions of exaltation. The Christian sings to God’s great glory in Christ proclaiming him Lord and Savior.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: John 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jn 3:13-17
In this passage from the Gospel of St. John, Jesus is in dialogue with Nicodemus. Jesus makes his formal declaration of his own divinity as he describes the relationship between the Father and the Son of Man and their authority over the gates of heaven. He uses the image of Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:8, also captured in Wisdom 16:5-6ff to provide a graphic image of the salvation to be brought about by his own ascent to the cross. The language used “…lifted up” has a double emphasis as both the image of Jesus being lifted up in crucifixion and be raised up by the Father in the glory of the resurrection.
It is clear that St. John, the author then speaks in the profession of faith. We are told the only reason we will ever be given for our redemption is that “God so loved the world”. Even though sin has come into the world, God did not send his Son to condemn the world but to save it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
We can only imagine the consternation of the Jewish hierarchy as the early Christian community celebrated the “Triumph of the Cross”. They had sought to kill this Jesus who thought to teach them what they needed to believe – they sought to kill him in the most humiliating and painful way available to them and they were utterly defeated in their scheme. The symbol of death and destruction became instead a symbol of death’s defeat. The image of humiliation became instead God’s great glory as they raised him on high – a sign of salvation like the bonze serpent that gave life in the desert.
In modern tradition there are two underlying reasons for this special feast day. Not only to we recall the establishment of the Church of Anastasis and the Basilica of Martyrium with the shrine of Calvarium by Constantine in Jerusalem making the sacred ground upon which the Lord took up his great passion. We also celebrate the recovery of the relics of the True Cross by the empress St. Helena (320). These events in our history demonstrate the impact of the Cross of Christ on our faith and the means by which it has become a symbol of victory for the faithful.
The Cross itself has a very personal meaning to each of us. It represents the sufferings we bear in union with Christ. It is also the great hope since we who believe he took all sin upon himself as he hung upon the cross, relieves us of that great burden of sin as we carry our own light load.
Today we recall the humiliation that became victory and the triumph of life over death in the symbol of the Cross of Christ. May its image remind us always of the life he gives us and the strength contained in that miraculous wood.
Pax
Information about the Exaltation of the Holy Cross[1]
Readings for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Numbers 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Num 21:4b-9
The reading from the book of Numbers recounts another intervention by God along their sojourn in the desert. God had already provided “manna” which is what the Israelites in this reading now call “wretched food”. The people see a plague of venomous snakes as a punishment from God for their complaints about the hardships of their journey.
This event is seen by the Christian community as an analogy to the later crucifixion of Jesus; “If anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover: "and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting" (John 3:14-15).”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 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!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
Psalm 78 is a historical recital recounting the encounter of the Israelites with God; their rejection of His gifts and the punishments for these rejections. In this selection the psalmist recalls the journey in the wilderness. The rebellion of the people is met with punishment but later merciful forgiveness.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading II: Philippians 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Phil 2:6-11
This familiar passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians is known as the “Kenotic” hymn or “emptying” hymn. Christ empties himself of the complete divinity that is his essence and accepts the human condition. As true man he suffers the ultimate humiliation of death (on the cross). The second section of the hymn focuses on God’s resulting actions of exaltation. The Christian sings to God’s great glory in Christ proclaiming him Lord and Savior.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: John 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jn 3:13-17
In this passage from the Gospel of St. John, Jesus is in dialogue with Nicodemus. Jesus makes his formal declaration of his own divinity as he describes the relationship between the Father and the Son of Man and their authority over the gates of heaven. He uses the image of Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:8, also captured in Wisdom 16:5-6ff to provide a graphic image of the salvation to be brought about by his own ascent to the cross. The language used “…lifted up” has a double emphasis as both the image of Jesus being lifted up in crucifixion and be raised up by the Father in the glory of the resurrection.
It is clear that St. John, the author then speaks in the profession of faith. We are told the only reason we will ever be given for our redemption is that “God so loved the world”. Even though sin has come into the world, God did not send his Son to condemn the world but to save it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
We can only imagine the consternation of the Jewish hierarchy as the early Christian community celebrated the “Triumph of the Cross”. They had sought to kill this Jesus who thought to teach them what they needed to believe – they sought to kill him in the most humiliating and painful way available to them and they were utterly defeated in their scheme. The symbol of death and destruction became instead a symbol of death’s defeat. The image of humiliation became instead God’s great glory as they raised him on high – a sign of salvation like the bonze serpent that gave life in the desert.
In modern tradition there are two underlying reasons for this special feast day. Not only to we recall the establishment of the Church of Anastasis and the Basilica of Martyrium with the shrine of Calvarium by Constantine in Jerusalem making the sacred ground upon which the Lord took up his great passion. We also celebrate the recovery of the relics of the True Cross by the empress St. Helena (320). These events in our history demonstrate the impact of the Cross of Christ on our faith and the means by which it has become a symbol of victory for the faithful.
The Cross itself has a very personal meaning to each of us. It represents the sufferings we bear in union with Christ. It is also the great hope since we who believe he took all sin upon himself as he hung upon the cross, relieves us of that great burden of sin as we carry our own light load.
Today we recall the humiliation that became victory and the triumph of life over death in the symbol of the Cross of Christ. May its image remind us always of the life he gives us and the strength contained in that miraculous wood.
Pax
[1] The picture is from the Darmstadt Altarpiece: “Constantine and His Mother Helena Venerating the True Cross” by an unknown German master, 1440s
[2] ALTRE
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
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