Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

It’s surprising to see how God responds to the complaints of the Israelites. We expect to receive sympathy when we complain. Instead, God sends a punishment on the Israelites when they complain. What exactly did the Israelites complain about? They were complaining about the miraculous food that God provided them: the mana. I think it’s pretty hard not to complain at all about anything ever, though I’m sure that’s a way to holiness. Perhaps one thing we can learn from this passage is to be careful when we start to complain – the Israelites were literally complaining about a miraculous gift from God because it wasn’t delicious. Anyone who has ever been really hungry knows that hunger pains can be solved by putting absolutely anything in your stomach. That is why, in places where there is quite literally not enough food, people will eat dirt just so they do not feel hungry. The Israelites are clearly not starving because they are complaining about how the food tastes. Rashi, a rabbinical commentator on this passage, states that the Israelites were lusting after fatty, heavy, meaty foods – the foods of their former slavery. God gave them the mana, a subtle, lighter fare, so that when eating it their minds might be clearer and their hearts lighter so as to rise to spiritual thoughts and contemplation, rather than focused inwardly on their stomachs. The Israelites are punished because when their needs were met sufficiently by a miraculous food, they did not respond in faith to seek spiritually the Lord of their hearts.

God is tremendously merciful, however, in that He continues to bring them opportunities for life and salvation despite their rejection. When things are bad, sometimes they get worse before they get better – but they can only really get better when we turn to the Lord. He heals us as He wounds, says the scripture – and, “The Lord corrects the sons and daughters that he loves.” When our minds are occupied with darkness, sin, and all the worldly influences like selfishness, gluttony, popularity, greed, lust, rage, deceit, and jealousy they are like so many vicious serpents that bite our hearts and fill us with poison. We are so weak that we find ourselves engaging with those snakes, tempted by their hissing, rather than terrified by their fangs and the murderous poison designed to kill our soul.

The bronze serpent, lifted up in the desert, is a reminder to the Israelites of their weakness and infidelity. But, whoever gazes upon it with hope is cured of the poison – the poison that represents their sin. Our bronze serpent is Jesus crucified. He has come in the weakness of human flesh, but is perfectly without the poison of sin. We have the crucifix in our classrooms and in our Churches so that we can gaze upon Him throughout the day. When we look at Him, we can hope in His healing power. His death removes from our hearts the poisonous death of sin – He saves us from the darkness of evil. May our minds and hearts be lifted up to Him frequently – may our hearts be healed by His.

Daily Readings

Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
by USCCB on November 23, 2024 at 9:30 am
Reading Rv 11:4-12 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me: Here are my two witnesses: These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain. They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying. They also have power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them. Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city, which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,” where indeed their Lord was crucified. Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days, and they will not allow their corpses to be buried. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and be glad and exchange gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth. But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them. When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.” So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 144:1, 2, 9-10 R. (1b) Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!Blessed be the LORD, my rock,who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!My mercy and my fortress,my stronghold, my deliverer,My shield, in whom I trust,who subdues my people under me.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!O God, I will sing a new song to you;with a ten stringed lyre I will chant your praise,You who give victory to kings,and deliver David, your servant from the evil sword.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock! Alleluia See 2 Tm 1:10 R. Alleluia, alleluia. Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 20:27-40 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything. Readings for the Optional Memorial of Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, priest and martyrReadings for the Optional Memorial of Saint Columban, abbotReadings for the Optional Memorial of Saint Clement I, pope and martyr - - - Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

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