Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In today’s first reading we are reminded of why we reverently bow at the words of the Nicene creed as we profess our faith. “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven…”
For only our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ could save us from eternal death and lead us to life everlasting in Him. So great was His love for us that He took upon Himself the burden of sin in the world. He was lifted up on the wood of a cross just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
We adore You, Exalt and Bless You O Lord our God, for by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world. Amen
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First reading
Philippians 2:6-11 ·
Christ humbled himself but God raised him high
His state was divine, yet Christ Jesus did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself
to assume the condition of a slave
and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death,
death on a cross.
But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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Gospel
John 3:13-17
God sent his Son so that through him the world might be saved
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
‘No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven; and the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world,
but so that through him the world might be saved.’
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