Reflections on Scripture | Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

Choose either the video or audio below.

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.

Reflection

We learn from John that Jesus has no intention to condemn, but He has a burning fire within Him to convert, to change people's understanding, to awaken them to what is true. In the Old Testament

when Moses realized the destructive power of the complaining and the loss of hope and trust in God, he was told to take a serpent, which has a lot of meanings, but in this case it was poison. And he lifted up this poison on a rod and said, ‘I want you to see that the thing you're doing is so poisonous it's going to rob you of the ability to do your work,’ to follow Moses.

And so what I see in this then is we're looking at the cross of Jesus and we see this innocent, beautiful man giving His life for others. And what we're looking at is similar to that story in the Old Testament, because we're looking at what sin does. What rejection of truth does. It crucifies that which is good, that which is loving, that which is forgiving.

The Closing Prayer

Father, often we do not realize the impact of our decisions or our statements. Help us to be sensitive to the ways in which we see things and speak about things so that we are not adding some kind of negativity or poisonous thoughts, but only speak the truth and speak about the love that we are to share with each other. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Kyle Cross