Through Him

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live.”  Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.   Number 21:7B-9

Brothers and sisters: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.  Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.  Philippians 2:6-8

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.  And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”  John 3:13-15

Piety

Lift High the Cross

Refrain:
Lift high the cross The love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world Adore His sacred name.

Led on their way By this triumphant sign,
The hosts of God In conquering ranks combine.

Each newborn servant Of the Crucified
Bears on the brow The seal of Him who died. 

Study

Through Him.

This is a phrase which is proclaimed in every Mass.  But what does it really mean?  While Jesus was on the cross, the sword of our sins pierced his side.  We went through him.  The blood in his mortal body flow through him onto the ground.  Life – mortal life – was no longer with him nor in him.  However, by passing through mortal life, he gained eternal life.

The cross is our path as much as it is Jesus’ path.  For us to attain what He attained, we also have to go through the cross.  In the desert, it was just a gaze.  Death in the desert at the end of the fangs of a snake could be avoided by gazing upon the cross the Moses held high.

Death from sin can be attained by us through the experience of the cross that we must carry daily. 

There is no getting “around Him.”  There is no shortcut as much as we might like one.  The only way to get the gifts promised by Jesus is through him.  Because when we go through him, we become with him.  When we share in the Eucharist, the cross is a part of us.  Then, we become part of Him. 

Action

The cross is the toll plaza on the path of life.  What is the price you are willing to pay – not a price in a monetary sense.  Jesus paid with the pain he experience through his body for us. 

How will His cross help you endure and exalt in the path toward being with Him and in Him?