Through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we allow ourselves to be, along with the host, transformed into love, by Love in order to share Love, God’s love, God Himself with our World, transforming it and saving souls. Amen.

John 3; 13-17. Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. September 14th, 2-14

Today we celebrate the triumph of the Holy Cross. The cross was once the greatest symbol of shame. It was the instrument of the perfection of torture. As a consequence, Roman citizens could not be crucified. No, death by crucifixion was reserved for the lowest of criminals; in fact, for those who were deemed less than human; (isn’t it interesting that we always have to deny it’s a human person with inherent dignity in order to justify taking human life). And so, Jesus who was a fully divine came to earth as one of us; He became fully human in order to obtain our eternal salvation by dying the ignominious death, death on a cross; “This is my body, given up for you…).

As a result of His obedience to the Father’s Holy Will even unto death, Jesus turned the symbol of shame and suffering into a sign of everlasting hope. On the cross, He has taken on our sins so that we might be freed from the slavery and death of our sin; by his stripes we have been healed (cf. Is 53;5, 1st Peter 2;24). And as a result, death has now been destroyed and the symbol of the cross has now become for those who believe, adore, hope and love in Him the symbol of hope; because, the cross is the promise of sharing already in the victory that is now Christ’s. This is on of the reasons why us Catholic have and image of Jesus on the cross.

The cross is for the believer then, also the sign and symbol of authentic love: First, because Jesus’ Cross, makes visible the love of the God Who is Love. Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross makes visible the unfathomable love that each member of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit has for one another. While His death on the cross did nothing new with regards to how the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity live their intimate life together, it mysteriously made this Trinitarian love visible for us to behold.

The sacrifice of Christ on the cross, that complete offering of Himself for His friends, shows to us how the members of the Blessed Trinity give of themselves completely for one another eternally. Father, Son and Holy Ghost live totally for the other; sacrifice themselves in an oblation of love, a love that exists totally for the sake of the other. They live only for the other; and so, their love is so perfect, so complete, that it unites them in perfect unity, a unity of perfect Oneness. Love unites and so perfect love units perfectly. This Trinity of Persons is actually a family; in fact, The Family, perfectly united in love, the source of all Love.

The cross is for the believer, the sign and symbol of authentic love secondly, because as it makes visible to us the perfect love that each member of the Trinitarian family has for one another, it also makes present the love that the members of the Trinity have for each one of us. The Cross is then the visible sign of the invisible Trinitarian God’s love for each one of us. “For God so loved the world, that He sent His only Son… God who is so far beyond us, so beyond our comprehension and our reach, now draws near to us in love; in fact in the Son, condescends Himself, to become one of us, for our sake not His. And not only did He become one of us in Jesus, He did so in order to experience our human condition with all of its joys, struggles, and sufferings; and even to experience our death. And by Jesus’ death, death on a cross He, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, most especially shows us, proves to us and makes visible to us, His incredible love for us.

And finally, the cross is for the believer, the sign and symbol of authentic love because as it makes God’s love visible to us, it also calls us, invites us to participate in this Divine Love, first by our loving God above all things, and then by loving one another as God as loved us. In this we imitate and participate in God’s Trinitarian family, in Its inner Life and Love. This is what Jesus meant by following after Him. Picking up our cross means to imitate Jesus and so imitate God’s love, by offering our lives, our sufferings; all we say and do, our dying to self and selfishness; and finally, offering of our death with all of its pains and sufferings for love God, and because we love God for love of our neighbor and for our neighbor’s salvation, whether he be our friend or enemy. This is the perfection of love, perfect Charity; existing for the love of the other, for the good of the other, that is for God and for every single human person and doing so in Christ and in through and with His Divine Love which unites us to the Father in the Love of the Holy Ghost.

When we give of our self sacrificially to one another, first to God and then to neighbor, with the help of God’s grace and mercy, we partake in the very love of God, we continue to make God’s love visible in the world, as Jesus did, and we bring the unity of love to fruition. In a world that is hell bent on financial success at any cost, on comfort, ease, and personal gratification, especially with regards to sexuality, and finally hell bent on the acquisition of power and control over others, this is a hard message not only to hear, but also to accept. For this reason, St. Paul said, “The message of the cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation, it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18). And the Power of God is the Power of Love which is defeats all sin and evil, and even death.

If the Cross of Jesus is a sign of love, God’s love, His inner love, His love for us and the love He calls us to, the reality of that love is the Holy Eucharist. I believe it was St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta who once said, “When we look at a crucifix we see how much God loves us, when we look at the Holy Eucharist we see how much God loves us now.” In the Holy Eucharist, through faith, we see the face of Jesus, the face of God. The Holy Eucharist, as the Sacrament of the Sacrifice of Jesus, the Sacrament of His true bodily presence and the Sacrament of our Communion with God, as a three-fold Sacrament, It makes the Holy Cross of Christ truly present in the world today, in our midst today. The Holy Mass makes it possible for you and me to be present, sacramentally, but literally and truly, at the foot of the cross along with the Blessed Mother and St. John.

It is here at this Holy Mass that we can come, as individuals united in a family of faith and love, before the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and share in its victory. It is the Holy Mass that makes truly present for us the Cross, because it is Jesus’ once and for sacrifice on Calvary, the sacrifice that made and makes visible to us the invisible love of our God. The Holy Mass makes visible to us now here in this place and time, the invisible love of God because it makes present for us the fruit of the Cross, the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is the Love of God for it is the God who is Love. Jesus died on the Cross in order to give us Himself, who is the fullness of God’s love, of God’s self, in Holy Communion. The Holy Eucharist is the complete gift of the Father, because it is the gift of His Love in the gift of His Son.

It is from the Mass which is the cross of Christ that we can draw from the unity and love of the Holy Trinity in order to live that love out in our families, parish families and in our World. It is in and through the Holy Eucharist the God first loves us and draws us into His love, for it is in the Holy Eucharist that Jesus is lifted up in our own age drawing all men to Himself. In fact, it is at the Elevation of the Holy Eucharist at Mass, after the words of Consecration, it is to this very moment that Jesus refers to in today’s Gospel so that anyone who believes in the Holy Eucharist will be saved...

With the Holy Eucharist Who is Jesus, we can with Jesus and for love of Him, if we have faith and desire it, carry our cross and continue to make visible the love of God to the world, and so continue the victory of the cross in the hearts of those who come to believe through our own sacrifice of love united to His. If at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth…what about before the very Person of Jesus truly present in the Holy Eucharist….Venite Adoremus Dominum…Come let us adore the Lord on bended knees and bended heart, let us open our hearts to His Divine love, to His Divine Heart by offering our hearts in return.

Tomorrow we celebrate the Feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows. Let us ask her for help. Let us pray: “Our Lady of Sorrows always united to the crucified Heart of your Son, help us to love Jesus with your love and so love one another as God as loved us. Help us, as you help St. John, to be and remain at the foot of the cross and there offer our heart, our very self and all that we have, on this altar, as victims of love to the Father in union with Jesus and His Sacrifice by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary stationed at the foot of the cross, may we allow ourselves to be, along with the host, transformed into love, by Love in order to share Love, God’s love, God Himself with our World, transforming it and saving souls. Amen.