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"The Triumph of the
Cross"
Peace! Today's Gospel
(Jn 3:13-17) speaks of the plan of God for man's salvation. God
manifested His great love for man when He sent His only Son to the
cross to save the world.
God's Love
"God so loved the world that he gave His only Son that whoever
believes in Him may not be lost but may have eternal life (Jn 3:
14-15)". There is no greater proof of God's love for man than His
Son's death on the Cross. Love,
then, consists in this: not that we have loved God, but that HE HAS
LOVED US and has sent His Son as an offering for sins, culminating
in His death on the Cross.
The Cross
of Salvation
Philippians (2: 6-11, 2nd Reading) described the Cross not as the
punishment of Christ to appease God for sinners but as the
supreme expression of obedience completed by Christ's
resurrection. Christ did not consider being in God's form something to
be grasped at but lived His human life in service and was obedient
even unto death on the Cross. The
Cross epitomizes Christ's obedience; the resurrection renders possible
the communication of that obedience to everyone. Resurrection makes
the Cross a saving agent. The
message of the Cross, of our belief in a God who becomes human even to
the point of death, is that it is necessary to be humbled
- to perhaps even accept tremendous pain and humiliation - in order to
reveal God's glory. The
Cross manifest divine love drawing the world back in God
in Christ. The Cross portrays Christ's "being lifted up" not
only into the wood but also into the glory of Divine Life which will
be fully achieve by the Resurrection. The
Cross seen by others as a symbol of shame and humiliation, has been
transformed by God to a crown of triumph and victory signaling
ma's salvation.
"I
adore You. O Christ, and I praise You because by Your Holy Cross You
have redeemed the world." |
