Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Healing comes in many forms. The Native Americans and many around the world bring about healing through utilizing plants and animals for healing. Now days we have modern medicine, at least in many parts of the world. Medical science has helped us develop antibiotics, therapies and procedures which offer great healing. One of the hardest lessons in life is to realize there is no pill that can cure our every ill.
In the desert, the Israelites complained against God and Moses. Their grumbling cost them dearly and after they repented God allowed Moses to share a symbol which offered healing with just a gaze. Many who had been afflicted were lifted up and lived. Thus looking upon this cross brought healing. This feast day invites us to more deeply gaze at the cross upon which hung the savior of the world.
This feast reminds us the healing that Jesus death and resurrection brought us. This healing is described in the today’s gospel. The Son of Man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life. The ultimate healing for human beings is eternal life. My reflection on today’s readings led me to contemplate the words “believes” and “loved”. For myself, this eternal healing comes in us truly believing with our heart mind and soul that we are loved. This can be in fact very difficult. Does God really love me? Am I worthy of God’s love? A quick intellectual response is not enough here. It demands credere or credo, to place one’s heart into it.
Imagine what would happen if all Christians unequivocally believed, with heart, mind and soul, that Jesus had been lifted on the cross. And that it was his love for us, not the nails that held him there!
- Deacon Michael Montgomery