We Have the Gift; Not the Symbol ~ by Mary Ann Allen

Today we celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The cross is a reminder for us of God's incredible love. God gave us his most precious gift, his Son, Jesus Christ.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul tells us that Jesus emptied himself and took our human likeness and appearance and then, humbled himself becoming obedient to his Father, even to death on a cross. Can we even comprehend such a Love...

And not only that, Jesus left us with an access to God through the Eucharist. That Body and Blood of Christ that we eat and drink is not a symbol such as the symbol in the Book of Numbers, where God told the Israelites to form a seraph serpent that those persons bitten by snakes could look upon and be healed. No, Christ's presence in the Eucharist is not symbolic; it is real and it is our "God-with-us."

When we look at the cross today, we know that we too carry our own crosses. They are a part of our lives. Sometimes they are light enough for us to carry by ourselves. Sometimes we need the help of others. And sometimes, we are so burdened by our crosses that we must simply unite ourselves to Jesus' own suffering on his cross in order to go on. But we also know that someday our crosses will be glorified, just as Jesus' cross was.

Jesus died that terrible death on the cross because of his love for the other. He was willing to undergo suffering for the other. We too show that love by living our lives the way Jesus did. He was always giving and forgiving the other; and so must we.

We take comfort today in these words from John's Gospel:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life."


~ Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross ~