Wednesday,
September 14, 2016
Triumph of the Cross
First Reading:
Num 21:4-9 Second
Reading:
Phil 2:6-11
Gospel Reading: Jn 3:13-17
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “No one has ever gone up to heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through him the world is to be saved.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Nothing in life that’s worth having comes easy (Andrew Carnegie). Gardeners say it another way: Low- hanging fruits aren’t as sweet as those hanging atop. “No pain, no palm; no thorns no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown,” writes William Penn in ‘No Cross, No Crown’. Penn comes close to what Jesus tried to show to his disciples by dying on the cross. Penn’s “no cross, no crown” is a concise encapsulation of Jesus’ marching order to his followers to deny themselves and take up their cross.
Not all people who take up their crosses, however, end up in glory. Suffering is not synonymous with sacrifice. Suffering is just the raw experience of physical, emotional or mental distress at various levels of intensity. Sacrifice, on the other hand, is suffering made sacred by offering it to God. It comes from two Latin terms “facere” (to make) and “sacrum” (sacred). Until suffering becomes sacrifice it won’t become the cross that leads to glory.
Not all sufferings become sacrifice. The sufferings resulting from vices can hardly be made sacred. The misery of a gambler, for example, cannot be made sacred until he gives up the vice. The wage of vice is comeuppance that can hardly be made sacred for being fruit of a poisonous tree. Neither is it of any use to the spirituality of a person because it carries no seed of final glory.
One derives merits not from the results of his vices but from the effects of the vices of others. The reason for this is the nature of human freedom. The gift of freedom clothes both good and bad people with the mantle of immunity from God’s intervention. God won’t send down fire and brimstone to destroy people who misuse their freedom. But he grants abundant merits to their victims who after trying non-violent means to conquer their oppressors are left with no other option but to suffer.
“No cross, no crown”, wrote William Penn. Go for the right crown, take up the right cross! – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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