Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Sept.14th and Our Lady of Sorrows, Sept. 15th: Lectionary # 638 and 639

Dear Readers, Unfortunately, I was not able to link with the blogspot in
Pgh. I will try to send some of the past week's reflections with the new
ones. But here is today's and tomorrow's.

Scripture: Lectionary # 638. Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Numbers
21:4b-9. Psalm 78:1bc,34-35.36-37.38. Philippians 2:6-11 and John 3:13-17:

St. Helen is associated with searching for and discovering the remains of
the Cross of Jesus. This led to a Eucharistic celebration in honor of the
Holy Cross which was named the Triumph of the Holy Cross and then with
liturgical renewal the title became the Exaltation of the Cross. We see
the scriptural foundations for the feast in the three times that John, the
Evangelist writes of the "lifting up of Jesus" at the time of his appointed
"hour." Both themes are associated with the Paschal Mysteries of the
Lord--his suffering, death, and resurrection. John's scene at the foot of
the Cross has Jesus being lifted up and returning in victory over death and
sin through his exaltation or through his triumph over the prince of
darkness, the devil. The victory is complete once Jesus dies and is lifted
up to the bosom of the Father (Prologue of John1:16-18).

St. Cyril of Jerusalem tells us about this scene:"The Cross has set free
all who were slaves of sin. It has redeemed al humanity." Cyril was alive
when there were two churches in honor of the cross built in Jerusalem.

The incident of the bronze seraph or serpent in the desert is a saving
symbol for the Israelites in the desert. By looking upon this image they
were saved from their past infidelities. For the Christian the happening in
the desert led John the Evangelist to use this as his theology of the
"lifting up" of the Lord. The first reference to this theme is found in
our Gospel reading thus seeing a type and anti-type in the scriptures and
not forgetting the unity of the Old Testament and the New Testament which
was professed by the early theologians and bishops of the Church.

Paul gives us something that he received about Jesus' death through the
liturgical hymn called the Carmen Christi. This was already sung in the
churches as early as the year 50 A.D. and is one of the great
Christological hymns of the New Testament showing us the profound truth and
humility of the Savior who did not cling to his divinity but became one
with us through his humanity. The reality of that humanity was most
solidly confirmed through his death, burial, and then the triumph of his
resurrection. This emptying out of life from Jesus' death confirms his
total self-giving to all humankind and proclaims universal salvation to
every age past, present, and yet to come. Such is the love and compassion
of God seen in the Son who was lifted up for us after having been brought
down in death even death upon a cross, the most humiliating form of death
invented by the Romans.

In the Gospel, Jesus himself gives us his discourse on the meaning of his
being lifted up similarly to the raising of the seraph or serpent on a pole
in the desert. He, the Son of human (child of humanity) must be lifted up
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. We, through
the Eucharist, partake in this profound and unfathomable mystery which is
called by theologians the objective redemption. Our wanting and willing to
be united to the Cross of Christ is called the subjective redemption. All
in all, this means that we are one with the Body of Christ which died upon
the cross and our own sufferings are often called our cross or crosses that
we bear. We have devotions besides the Eucharist as a sacrament which help
us to enter into the mysteries of the suffering,death, and resurrection of
Jesus through the Stations of the Cross and through the sorrowful mysteries
of the rosary. We have an opportunity this day to recall and reclaim our
baptism in which we died with Christ and rose with him while being immersed
in the water and blessed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. We pray, "We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you because by your
holy Cross you have redeemed the world. Amen."

Scripture: Sept.15. Lectionary # 639. Sorrows of Our Lady. Hebrews 5:7-9.
Psalm 31:2-3,3-4,5-6, 15-16.20. Sequence of Stabat Mater, and choice of
John 19:25-27 or Luke 2:33-35.

Luke narrates the event of Jesus' presentation in the temple forty days
after his birth and how the holy Simeon approaches the mother of Jesus and
says, "This child shall be a sign of contradiction (the Cross)...and you
yourself shall be pierced with a sword so that the thoughts of many hearts
may be laid bare."
These words of Simeon are said at Compline each night as the prayer of the
Church. It is called the Nunc Dimittis or Now you dismiss your servant.
By these words it is natural for us to recall the scene at the foot of the
Cross and the Feast of the Cross that we celebrated yesterday. We use the
common expression "like mother, like son" that is easily seen in the
association of the two feasts celebrating Jesus' sorrowful death and the
compassion of his mother at the foot of the Cross.

Mary is said to be standing next to the Cross with the Beloved Disciple.
They are not separated by the Cross but are side by side according to the
Scriptures. This shows their union with one another and the last testament
of Jesus to both the disciple and to his mother. It is an entrustment to
carry on what Jesus has begun. Our being united with Mary and the Beloved
Disciple helps us to cooperate in the mission of bringing Jesus to others
by being inspired as she was in her cooperation with the Holy Spirit both
at the Annunciation and now at the Cross. The Church is being formed as
Jesus breathes upon those two who are bonded through his love. Certainly,
her heart is pierced in this death of her son but she stands with the
disciple to continue his life among us in the Church.

Mothers understand their own sufferings through her in those tragic events
of losing a son, a daughter, a newborn, or a child. A Marianist brother
once happened to be in a cemetery where all the people buried there were
Baptists. He saw a woman bent over a grave and near it a statue of Mary.
He dared to ask the woman why is that statue there. She replied, "Because
she understands what I am going through in the death of my son." Yes, Mary
is not a mere symbol here. Mothers are the most real of persons and events
like this and they understand what Mary went through. She is the image of
the suffering Body of Christ, the Church. She offers thoughts in the heart
of mothers who have lost sons and daughters in wars that continue on and
on. With her and these mothers we are able to fathom the mysteries of
salvation through the death of Jesus.

We have an opportunity of entering into the feelings of this mother through
the late middle age hymn called the Stabat Mater. It is a poetic hymn in
Latin that has been put in prose and poetry in English. Here we can review
the thoughts of Mother Mary as did the author in this magnificent sequence.
This should help us to feel the sufferings of Mary that continue in so many
mothers in today's society and world.
The Servites of Mary have a Church in Chicago dedicated to Our Lady of
Seven Sorrows. They are : prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the
loss of Jesus in the temple, the meeting with Jesus on the way to Calvary,
the crucifixion of Jesus, the descent from the Cross, and the burial of
Jesus.

In one of the older Rules of Life of the Marianists this teaching is found:
"The life of a Christian and with all the more reason that of a person
consecrated to God, is necessarily a penitential life, since it is a
reproduction of the life of Jesus and Mary. The Savior of the world came as
a victim, he lived in privations, he died in sorrows. The same sword
pierced the heart of his divine Mother." Amen.