Part two of Fr. Lingan's sermon

This week we are serializing a sermon by Fr. Joseph E. Lingan, S.J. on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross that he gave on September 14, 2012 to the Georgetown Visitation Sisters at morning mass in our chapel.

Part 2 of 6

If on the cross we discover our honest self, sinful and ungrateful, we also find ourselves closely united with Jesus and Jesus with ourselves. If we look upon the cross with this kind of vision and faith, we are healed and saved. "There is no other name in the whole world given to men and women by which we are to be saved" (Acts 4:12).

This recognition of ourselves, our sinful and grumbling selves, stamped upon the dying person of Jesus, is what John is writing about. To accept this union of our sinful self with Jesus' sinless self, to perceive such love on Jesus' part that He looks like ourselves and takes our burdens upon Himself--all this requires faith.

Feast of the Holy Rosary

Remember the Feast of the Holy Rosary (this year today, October 7), especially the Sorrowful Mysteries. Remember the cross, and the Passion of Jesus.

This week we will serialize a sermon by Fr. Joseph E. Lingan, S.J. on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross that he gave on September 14, 2012 to the Georgetown Visitation Sisters at morning mass in our chapel.

Part 1 of 6

The incident of the bronze serpent typifies Jesus on the cross and enables us to appreciate better the mystery of Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus becomes ourselves, even as Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

For our sakes God made him [Jesus] who did not know sin, to be sin, so that in him we might become the very holiness of God (2 Cor. 5:21)

Are we ready for that?  . . . are any of us ready to become the very holiness of God? Do we try to ready ourselves? My sisters in Christ, Jesus "emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in our human likeness, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross" for our sake.

When we look at the cross, we see ourselves and confess the effects of our sins. Jesus was made "to be sin," our sins, our grumbling, our impatience, our complaints, our inability to forgive.

YES, God so loved the world! (John 3:16) God so loved us!

(to be continued tomorrow)