The mystery of God’s love revealed on the cross.

Today, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Church invites us to look at the cross. The first reading of today’s service of the word reminds us of a section of the history of the chosen nation, in which there is talk of a copper snake that Moses placed on a high wheel. Who was bitten by poisonous snakes in the desert and looked at the copper snake, was saved and did not die (cf. Num 21:9). In the second reading, the apostle Paul tells us about Jesus Christ, who “humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8).

We stand for the great mystery of God’s love for man. Saint John wrote in his Gospel that “Jesus loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the extreme” (Jn 13:1). God loves his creation; he loves man. He loves him even when a person sins, offends God by sin, or disobeys him. God never leaves man alone, he loves him endlessly, to the end. His love is a love that surpasses our imaginations. God – Jesus descends from the heights of the heavens, renounces his Divine majesty, and dresses in the clothes of an enslaved person. It falls to our feet. He kneels before man and serves us, sinful people, as an enslaved person, washes our dirty feet so that we can sit with him at the Divine banquet so that we are worthy to take a place at his tabIf it were not for his humiliation, his suffering, and death if there was no cross, there would be no sacrifice of St. Mass, and we would not be here today. We would wander along the paths of life, through the deserts of this world, similar to how the Jews wandered during their journey to the promised land, and perhaps, for our salvation, God would give us a copper snake that would protect us from misfortune and death for a while. We stand before the mystery of God’s love for man. Only love has the purifying power that washes us from our dirt and raises us to God. The cleansing bath is not water, but himself – God in human flesh, he gives himself completely to us when he dies on the cross, immersed in cruel suffering. God takes the cross on his shoulders, and our cross and the power of his love are a remarkable liberation for us.

We are to accept this love of God. We must not reject it; we must open ourselves to the saving goodness of our God. Not to respond to his love with love, gratitude, and trust. That is what God expects from every Christian. However, he expects such an open and honest attitude from us, the people he has blessed with priestly or religious vocations. How often does our life path become tiring and unattractive? We feel the previous enthusiasm leaving us, and various difficulties begin to appear that annoy us and push us to the ground. We often try to solve these growing problems by ourselves because our pride does not allow us to ask for the help of our spiritual companions or the community to which we belong. Furthermore, we forget that Jesus, who called us, wants to help us the most. So typically, he takes us by the hand and pulls us to him with immense kindness to say, “Don’t be afraid. I am with you, and I will not leave you alone. But don’t you leave me either.”

The same thing that St. experienced can happen in our lives too. Walking on the sea’s surface towards Jesus, Peter suddenly noticed that he was beginning to sink into the depths, that he was no longer walking on the surface. In such situations, we also have the courage to cry out, like Peter: “Lord, save me!?” (Mt 14:30) After all, together with Jesus, we can overcome all obstacles and walk contentedly through the foaming waves of our life. It is enough to look at him with faith, hope, and love; believe in his love, and he will take us by the hand and lead us on a safe path. He will give our life lightness and peace and help us rise and overcome the evil in and around us. Only he can effectively hold and lead. However, it is necessary to remain at the cross of Jesus and adore this great mystery of love and goodness. It is necessary to stretch out your hands to Jesus, to allow him to hold us firmly in his tortured hands. Then, we will not drown; we will become strong and ready to serve and sacrifice our lives for our brothers and sisters. (…) Faith in Jesus, the Son of God, is how we can repeatedly take hold of Jesus’ hand and through which we feel how he holds and guides us. Let us always strive to be sincerely connected with Jesus as children and ask him never to let go of our hands.

Thanks to the grace of vocation, every priest, every religious, and every religious sister becomes a friend of Jesus Christ and his betrothed. This is how friendship with Jesus is born. However, this friendship requires personal commitment, that is, our generous response to the goodness and favor shown to us by Christ. In this friendship, we are to be fully engaged again and again every day. Friendship means common thinking and common desires. So, our thoughts and desires should be the thoughts and desires of Jesus Christ. And we have to deepen and develop this community of thoughts and desires with Jesus. St. speaks very nicely about it. Paul addressed the believers in Philippi: “Complete my joy: think alike, love alike, be of one soul and one mind! Do nothing out of malice or for vain glory, but in humility consider one another superior. Let no one look only at his own interests but also at the interests of others. Think like Christ Jesus.” (Phil 2:2-5)

This community of thoughts is not only a matter of our conviction; it should also be a matter of our deeds and our actions. This means that we must listen to Jesus carefully, talk to and live with him, and tell him about all our problems and joys. This means always being close to him, struggling with your weaknesses, confessing often, and feasting on his body. Without His help, we will not achieve holiness, we will never be perfect, and we will not persevere on the path that leads to goodness. Without his help, evil will destroy us; we will be weak and start to wander. Our profession will become very weak. True freedom has its source in Christ, in prayer, in reading St. Scriptures, in meeting Jesus, who speaks to us and teaches us to live a life truly worthy of a person. We should spend much time meditating and thinking about his words and deeds. Reading St. scriptures is not the usual book reading, but prayer. It should be a prayer; it should lead a person to prayer. Evangelists often tell us that Jesus Christ went “to the mountain” all night to pray, to meet and talk with his Father.

We, too, need such a “mountain”; we need to transform ourselves into a mountain of prayer so that we can be there only with Jesus. Because friendship is only permanent if it deepens daily. Friendship requires us to have time for a friend. And we can fully realize our calling in this way; we can become servants of Jesus. Only in this way can we bring Christ and his Gospel to people, our brothers and sisters. Only in this way can we become true witnesses of Christ’s Cross. The time we spend at the Cross of Jesus in prayer and adoration is the most precious and important moment of every day. Here, at the cross of Jesus, all our activity and work has its beginning. With prayer, our external actions and all our activities will remain fruitless and retain their value. Work that has its birth, is exalted by worship, and has its beginning in a deep inner union with Christ will always have an amazing effect. This is precisely the secret of the effect of the evangelistic service and the work of holy men and women.

It was thanks to his unceasing prayer that Saint Maximilian Mária Kolbe achieved such amazing evangelistic results and had the courage and strength to sacrifice his life for his brother in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Through prayer, Saint Mother Teresa opened her heart to the poor and abandoned. She kept the rosary in her hands and prayed without ceasing. Thanks to prayer, the servant of God, Pope John Paul II, overcame all problems and difficulties, evangelized the whole world, and had the strength to lift the cross of suffering and sickness. In his private chapel, he remained in adoration for several hours, where, immersed in a conversation with Jesus, he begged for light and strength. So he remained with the cross in his hands until the end of his life. (…) The cross on which Jesus died is not a dead and withered tree. Thanks to Christ’s death, the cross became a tree of life and a source from which man still draws strength and inspiration. New life always grows from the cross. From the cross grows our daily and constant conversion. From the cross grows happiness, poverty, obedience, and purity. From the cross grows our goodness, our effort to understand others, and our forgiveness. From the cross grows miraculous love and heroism every day. From the cross grows our courage and decisiveness in deeds. Our vocation journey begins on the cross. Blessed be the cross of Christ. He reminds us daily that the meaning of each day is love. Jesus, thank you for that.