REFLECTION FOR THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (YEAR C), Week beginning 11TH SEPTEMBER 2022
September is lit up by the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on its 14th day. It also is termed the Triumph of the Holy Cross. Very appropriately, on the next day there is celebrated the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (also termed Our Lady of Dolours – she is the Dolorosa, the Lady of Sorrows, principally through following her Son on the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, to the summit of Mt. Calvary on the 1st Good Friday).
The Cross is the prime symbol of Christianity. Original Sin, the disobedience of Adam & Eve, brought death into the world in its wake. They fell out of harmony with God, with each other, and with the whole of creation, with all of the created order. Death was never part of God’s plan – He is all about Life. He is always Life- giving. God had entered many covenants with His People. These were invariably broken by the human side or party. In the final analysis, therefore, He realised that He must become human Himself, in and through the Person of His Only Begotten Son. The final and greatest covenant of all would be through the Precious Saving Blood of Jesus Christ.
The Cross is Triumph. In His suffering upon it, Jesus was literally taking Sin and Death onto His back, submitting Himself to be nailed to its surface. His triumph would occur within 3 days, by virtue of His Glorious Resurrection. He conquered the absolute entirety of human sin – all of its history from Adam & Eve, right up to the date of the end of the world – a date known only to God the Father, as stipulated by Jesus Himself.
May these two days in mid-September bring home to us the significance of His Cross in our lives. We all have His commission, that to be His disciple we must each take up our cross daily and follow Him. (‘Follow’ as in ‘imitate’). With no cross, we can have no Resurrection.
Good Shepherd Catholic Church 