Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Today's Mass Readings

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

I offer a word which perhaps gives us a way into our readings today. That word is eventfulness.

We can apply this word to our lives: ‘What is the eventfulness of my life at this time?’ Often we think of something which “happens” to us, a car accident for example. Or, perhaps it is a new relationship entering one’s life or a decisive break in a current relationship.

But I would like to apply the word, eventful, a little differently. Think of it not merely as the dramatic something that has happened to noticeably change my life, but as the gradual, building response that I make to happenings: ‘So, what I am going to do about it?’ If we make little or no response, moving along by default, we can say, my life is “uneventful”. Yet even if we do not respond, there is an event!

This way of our response – its “eventfulness,” – is the way with the Word of God: God really is moving within the events of our lives. He is moving, asking to be part of our response. Am I listening?

We might compare it to the gold plating that is done to an object. A metal object is put into a bath and given a charge of electricity. Gradually the object gets plated. This is what happened with Christ and His cross: He allowed the rejection he experienced from the Jewish authorities to be taken up and bathed in God’s Providential Love: ‘My Father is permitting this evil to occur and I trust in His providential love!’ St. Paul says of Christ’s response that he “emptied himself.” This graced surrender to God – this eventfulness of the cross – redeemed the universe!

What is the eventfulness going on within me which God wants to come into? Do I want to see it within the light of his love for me? The cross in our lives is transforming only if we allow God into the center of our eventfulness and not struggle alone.

The serpent which Moses lifted up for the Israelites to see was a symbol of that which wounded them. Christ was lifted on the cross for us to look upon him and “see” – that is, believe – that his gift of surrender to the Father’s love and design would free him from saving himself. By this obedient love, we are saved; by such obedient love, we learn the real eventfulness of our lives.

Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB