Florida Catholic | Sunday Word

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We lift high the cross and see life

September 14, 2008 :: Nm 21:4b-9; Ps 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38; Phil 2:6-11; Jn 3:13-17

FATHER DAVID SCOTCHIE | SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

Show a dollar sign and most people instantly think of money and capitalism. Wave a red, white and blue flag, and the world sees patriotic Americans. Drive past a giant yellow M and the kids scream, “French fries!”

See a cross and what comes to mind?

In the Catholic Church, you see crosses everywhere. You put your hand in the baptism font when you enter the church and make the sign of the cross. Above the altar, you can’t miss the crucifix.

Catholic homes have crosses on the wall above the door. Many Catholics wear crucifixes on a chain around their necks.

Every Sept. 14, we celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. We lift high the cross and see life.

This is how the Bible puts it: “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” (Jn 3:16).

Which is really weird. If you think about it, the cross is a sign of death. The cross was an imperial instrument of torture and execution. It’s like saying the electric chair is a sign of life. It’s like saying waterboarding is a kiss. Lifting high the cross in exaltation doesn’t make sense.

Wandering in the desert towards the distant promised land, the Israelites suffered attacks by poisonous serpents. At the command of the Lord, Moses made a bronze serpent and lifted it high on a pole. All who looked upon the bronze serpent were healed (Nm 21:4b-9).

It is the divine paradox. God made a serpent – a creature that kills – bring healing. (The snake on a pole has since become the universal symbol of healing and adopted by the medical profession.) Through suffering, God brings goodness. Out of darkness comes light. Through the cross is the resurrection.

We normally run from suffering and shy from sacrifice. Yet the prayer of St. Francis says that it is in giving that we receive and in dying that we rise to eternal life. We believe that God gives us life through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

This is totally weird, yet this is totally true. This is our faith.

The world is in need of such faith. The loss of jobs, the record foreclosure of homes and the lack of health care insurance are just a few reasons for despair.

The nation recently observed the seventh anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. As a nation we remembered the nearly 3,000 people killed by terrorists. And in remembering, we remember the good that resulted on that terrible day.

The wife of a security guard recalled how her husband, having hauled a group of people out of one of the burning towers, went back in for more and died on the eighth floor. Another survivor said, “I can’t believe how those firemen gave their lives for us.”

We embrace sacrifice out of love. We meet suffering with hope. In the words of the hymn, we “lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim till all the world adore his sacred name.”

To take to prayer: Where do you have a crucifix in your home?

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