The Uplifted Savior

Our Blessed Lord was now declaring that he was to be lifted up, as the serpent had been lifted up. As the brass serpent had the appearance of a serpent and yet lacked its venom, so too, when he would be lifted up upon the bars of the cross, he would have the appearance of a sinner and yet be without sin. As all who looked upon the brass serpent had been healed of the bite of the serpent, so all who looked upon him with love and faith would be healed of the bite of the serpent of evil.

It was not enough that the Son of God should come down from the heavens and appear as the Son of Man, for then he would have been a great teacher and a great example, but not a Redeemer. It was important for him to fulfill the purpose of the coming, to redeem man from sin while in the likeness of human flesh. Teachers change men by their lives; our Blessed Lord would change men by his death. The poison of hate, sensuality, and envy which is in the hearts of men could not be healed simply by wise exhortations and social reforms. The wages of sin is death, and therefore it was to be by death that sin would be atoned for. As in the ancient sacrifices the fire symbolically burned up the imputed sin along with the victim, so on the cross the world’s sin would be put away in Christ’s sufferings, for he would be upright as a priest and prostrate as a victim. The two greatest banners that were ever unfurled were the uplifted serpent and the uplifted Savior. And yet there was an infinite difference between them. The theater of one was the desert, and the audience was a few thousand Israelites; the theater of the other was the universe and the audience, the whole of mankind. From the one came a bodily healing, soon to be undone again by death; from the other flowed soul-­healing, unto life everlasting.

Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

Come forth!!!

Come Forth!

Where have you laid him? They lead him to the place…. The fate of the world is at stake as death and the Lord stand face to face. Jesus commands that the stone be rolled away. Martha reminds him of the four days that have passed since burial. Have I not told you that if you believe you shall behold the glory of God? She believes but does not comprehend. Jesus stands alone with all that he is, the only one intrinsically alive among so many mortals, hence also the only one who really knows what death means. He must break this dark power….

Turning to his Father, he praises him for the unheard-of power about to manifest itself; then he cries with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth! With a loud voice—why? In Naim it had been so easy, and at the bedside of the little girl a quiet word had sufficed. Why then the cry and the huge gesture? We recall the same mighty cry from the cross between the last word and death (Lk 23:46). Both issued from the same heart, the same calling, and are one and the same act. Here though is not only the miracle of resuscitation from death; behind the visible event, deep in the last recesses of the spirit, rages a battle…. It is against the enemy of salvation that Jesus warns. Christ conquers death by conquering him who reigns in death: Satan.

And he does not vanquish by magic, nor by superior spiritual force, but simply by being what he is: invulnerable to the root and vital through and through. He is life itself, that life which is grounded in perfect love to the Father. This is Jesus’ strength. The cry was a surge of that vitality in an all-overpowering thrust of love.

Servant of God Romano Guardini

Sharing in Christ Suffering

Giving Our Lives with the Son of Man

Try to increase your knowledge of this mystery of redemption. This knowledge will lead you to love—and love will make you share through your sacrifices in the Passion of Christ. 

My dear children—without our suffering, our work would just be social work, very good and helpful, but it would not be the work of Jesus Christ, not part of the redemption. Jesus wanted to help us by sharing our life, our loneliness, our agony and death. All that he has taken upon himself, and has carried it in the darkest night. Only by being one with us has he redeemed us. We are allowed to do the same: All the desolation of the poor people, not only their material poverty, but their spiritual destitution must be redeemed, and we must have our share in it. Pray thus when you find it hard: “I wish to live in this world which is so far from God, which has turned so much from the light of Jesus, to help them—to take upon me something of their suffering.” Yes, my dear children, let us share the sufferings of our poor—for only by being one with them we can redeem them, that is, bringing God into their lives and bringing them to God.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta

The Sign that inspires

His outstretched arms on the cross are the most telling sign that he is a friend who is willing to stop at nothing: Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end (Jn 13:1). Saint Paul said that his life was one of complete trust in that self-sacrificing love: I now live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20)…. Look to his cross, cling to him, let him save you, for those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness. And if you sin and stray far from him, he will come to lift you up by the power of his cross. Never forget that he forgives us seventy times seven. Time and time again, he bears us on his shoulders. No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love. With a tenderness that never disappoints but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew…. 

The Lord’s love is greater than all our problems, frailties, and flaws…. He embraced the prodigal son, he embraced Peter after his denials, and he always, always, always embraces us after every fall, helping us to rise and get back on our feet. Because the worst fall, and pay attention to this, the worst fall, the one that can ruin our lives, is when we stay down and do not allow ourselves to be helped up. His forgiveness and salvation are not something we can buy, or that we have to acquire by our own works or efforts…. His self-sacrifice on the cross is so great that we can never repay it, but only receive it with immense gratitude and with the joy of being more greatly loved than we could ever imagine: He loved us first (1 Jn 4:19). Keep your eyes fixed on the outstretched arms of Christ crucified…. And when you go to confess your sins, believe firmly in his mercy which frees you of your guilt. Contemplate his blood poured out with such great love, and let yourself be cleansed by it. In this way, you can be reborn ever anew.

Pope Francis