Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Intention: For those carrying grief that the school calendar makes no room for, that they find someone willing to sit with them in it.
Today’s Gospel | John 3:13-17
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.” 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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
From the Ninth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
You must in this imitate God to some extent, for he so loved the souls he created that when he saw them involved in sin and unable to be freed from sin by themselves, the zeal and affection that he had for their salvation led him to send his own Son to rescue them from their miserable condition. This is what made Jesus Christ say that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not die, but may have eternal life. See what God and Jesus Christ have done to restore souls to the grace they had lost. What must you not do for them in your ministry if you have a zeal for their salvation!
Prayer
Eternal Father, you did not send your Son to condemn the world but to save it. Keep that order in front of us when we are quick to judge and slow to help. Let the cross be read as evidence of how far you were willing to go, and not as an argument we use against others. Lift our eyes to it and let us live. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.