14 September.
Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 77(78):1-2,34-38; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17.
Reflection:
The Church already celebrates the passion of Jesus with great solemnity in its Good Friday liturgy, but the mystery of Christ’s passion and death is of such great importance that it is appropriate to be celebrated as a feast on a later date. Today we celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross to remind ourselves of God’s great love for us all when God allowed his Son Jesus to die on the cross. The cross thus becomes the greatest symbol of God’s love for us.
In today’s gospel we hear Jesus compare himself to the brazen serpent lifted by Moses on a pole so that those who had been bitten by the serpents may look at the bronze serpent and be saved. Jesus tells Nicodemus, who comes to see him at night, that the Son of Man too will be lifted up and glorified – on the cross – and thus become for us all a sign and symbol of our salvation.
Each time we look at the cross, each time we wear the symbol of the cross, whenever we bless ourselves, we remind ourselves of this great love of God for us, exalted upon the cross.
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Further Reading:
The cross and the associated mystery of Jesus’ passion and death formed a great part of the Servant of God Joseph De Piro’s spirituality.
When he was still a young adult, at the age of fourteen, Joseph, who was a good artist, drew a painting of the face of Jesus wearing a crown. This pencil drawing is a beautiful meditation on the suffering of Jesus.
Moreover, both when he was considering the possibility of giving up his law course at the University of Malta, and when, a few months before he was ordained priest, he was considering whether to return to Malta or to continue his studies to join the Church’s diplomatic services, he again reflects on the suffering of Jesus. In both cases, in a discernment exercise that we still have, he writes ‘considering how much Christ suffered for my sins….’ This reflection on Christ’s suffering for him and his sinfulness became like a leading light for the Servant of God in the early years of his life, until his ordination to the priesthood.
(mz 04/07/25)