Sunday, September 14, 2014

Going Up? (Exaltation of the Cross) (2014-09-14, Sunday)

Title:    Feast: Exaltation of the Cross

[__01__]  This Sunday – September 14 is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the rasising of the Cross on Calvary.   The Cross is elevated.
  
[__02__]       Are we going up?   Are you going up? “Going up?” or … “Are  you going up?” is the question we ask standing in the corridor outside the elevator in a tall building. We ask the vertical direction in which the passengers are traveling.

Depending on the response, we would either board or wait for the next one.

[__03__]     In the letter to the Philippians, this Sunday, we also read about elevation. Jesus humbled himself by going up the hill, to the higher altitude of Calvary.

We elevate ourselves also by making the sign of he cross.

[__04__]      We elevate ourselves also by making the sign of the cross.  This is true …for example, when we say Grace before meals…. We offer the meal and our physical nourishment, even our health, to God.

We also elevate ourselves with the cross before hearing/reading the Gospel at Mass, making the sign of the cross over our hearts, lips, and head.

For our HEARTS …..We make this sign,  praying that the Cross and Gospel would protect and guard our hearts, our emotions, our passions, our relationships, that God will protect those we love.

May the the words of the Gospel be on our hearts

For our MOUTH and LIPS …..We make this sign, praying the Cross and Gospel would help us to speak words of encouragement, wisdom, mercy, honesty which others need to hear. In Psalm 51, we pray that God will set a guard at our mouth.. a guard that we will both know when to speak and when to be silent.

May he the words of the Gospel be on our lips

For our HEADS/MINDS…..We make this sign, praying that the Cross and Gospel would go to our heads .

Many things “go to our heads.” We speak of power going to a person’s head; wealth going to a person’s head…

Rather than desires for wealth, comfort, convenience, popularity filling our mind, we pray that the Gospel values will elevate us.

For example, our Savior invites us to discern light from darkness, good from evil. We need our minds to do this. But, we are also called to use our mind not only to discern light/darkness and good/evil in another, but discern this first in ourselves, the plank, the 2-by-4, the wooden beam in my eye and mind. (Matthew 7:5).

May the the words of the Gospel be on our minds.

[__05__]        Going up? This is the question for all of us and in a special way for young people, for boys and girls, young men and women by whom the values of the Gospel or Commandments might be perceived only as another rule book or textbook.

If we were only to see the commandments as rules written by someone else, or theories published for someone else, then we would also see in them only as a system of reward/punishment. Then, we would not be going up but would be crushed below under the weight of the textbook. They are pretty heavy in the backpack.

Jesus himself cautions the Pharisees and scribes about making the law heavy for people, about putting heavy burdens upon other without lifting a finger to help them. (cf. Matthew 23:4)

Jesus by going up to the cross is lifting a finger, a shoulder to help us. He is our example of suffering and sacrifice.

We are called to

  • read, listen and act on the Gospel…
  • to allow the Gospel to touch our minds, hearts and lips…
  • to seek the honest, merciful, charitable way

… so that these Commandments  will be written in our consciences, so that we may elevated with our Savior.

Jesus asks us the same question about our destinations…

Are we elevated? Are we going up? [__fin__]     

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