XXIV Sunday in OT:[A]:Exaltation:Ez33:7-9;Rom13:8-10;Mt18:15-20

XXIV Sunday in OT:[A]:Exaltation:Ez33:7-9;Rom13:8-10;Mt18:15-20

Introduction: We celebrate this feast of the Exaltation of the Cross for two reasons: (1) to understand the history of the discovery and recovery of the True Cross and (2) to appreciate better the importance of the symbol and reality of Christ’s sacrificial love, namely, the cross in the daily life of every Christian.

History: We find the origins of today’s Mass back in the year 335 A.D. when, on September 14th of that year, a basilica built by the Emperor Constantine was consecrated. The site was that of Calvary and the Holy Sepulcher. Earlier, the Roman Emperor Hadrian had leveled the site, covering it with earth and building a temple to the Roman goddess Venus along with a statue to Jupiter on top of Calvary’s site. A few years later the Emperor Constantine encouraged Christianity to flourish in the Roman Empire. Constantine’s mother, whom we know as St. Helen, subsequently searched for and found the remnants our Lord’s Cross after excavating Hadrian’s temple terrace to get down to the actual site of Calvary.

About three hundred years later the Persian King Chosroes captured Jerusalem and carried off the True Cross, taking it to Persia, today’s Iran. Fourteen years later the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius defeated the Persian King Chosroes and brought the True Cross back to Jerusalem. With great ceremony, and wearing sumptuous and be-jeweled vestments, Heraclius in a grand procession carried the Cross on his shoulder back to Calvary, the site of Constantine’s original basilica.

When he arrived at the gate in Jerusalem’s wall leading to Calvary he found that he couldn’t move. Some invisible force had stopped him; he simply couldn’t move forward. The Bishop of Jerusalem, a man named Zachary, addressed the Emperor in these words: “In all of this finery you are far from imitating Christ’s poverty and the lowly state of our Savior when He carried the Cross.” Thereupon the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius took off his finery and donned a simple cloak. It was then he found that he could move forward -- and so carried the Cross back to Calvary’s site.

Joke:  Wilson runs a nail factory and decides his business needs a bit of advertising. He has a chat with a friend who works in marketing and he offers to make a TV ad for Wilson's Nails.   "Give me a week," says the friend, "and I'll be back with a tape."

A week goes by and the marketing executive comes to see Wilson. He puts a cassette in the video and presses play. A Roman soldier is busy nailing Jesus to the cross. He turns to face the camera and says with a grin "Use Wilson's Nails, they'll hold anything."

Wilson goes mad shouting: "What is the matter with you? They'll never show that on TV. Give it another try, but no more Romans crucifying Jesus!"

Another week goes by and the marketing man comes back to see Wilson with another tape. He puts it in the machine and hits play. This time the camera pans out from a Roman standing with his arms folded to show Jesus on the cross. The Roman looks up at him and says 'Wilson's Nails, they'll hold anything'.

Wilson is beside himself. "You don't understand: I don't want anything with Jesus on the cross! Now listen, I'll give you one last chance. Come back in a week with an advertisement that I can broadcast."

A week passes and Wilson waits impatiently. The marketing executive arrives and puts on the new video.

This time same crew, instead of Jesus, same man as Judas with long hair, gasping for breath, is running across a field. About a dozen Roman soldiers run after him towards the hill. One of them turns to camera and says 'No control if not used Wilson's Nails!’

Whatever happens in our life, we are not ready to change our life.  We keep our sinful life as it is.

Practical Applications: 1) We must ask ourselves what burdens us, what weighs us down, and keeps us from spiritually moving forward? The Cross is not so heavy that we cannot carry it or move under its weight. Christ, after all, said “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…” If He is yoked with us then there is no burden too heavy that you and He cannot carry together. But if you are burdened by the weight of this world’s glitter and gold, you will soon be immobilized by it. It will not only weigh you down, it will crush your spirit.

2) We need to be forgiving others because we are forgiven sinners: The crucifix reminds us that we are forgiven sinners and hence we are expected to forgive those who offend us and ask for forgiveness whenever we offend others or hurt their feelings.

Twenty Fourth Sunday in OT: Introduction

Message: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up”.  “God highly exalted him” and made him Lord!  How unforgettable are his deeds!  Todays’ feast celebrated a double anniversary.  In Jerusalem, Constantine erected a round church, the Anastasis, above the empty grave of Jesus, and a basilica, the Martyrium; in the square between the two churches, a shrine, Calvarium, marking the place of the crucifixion.  Dedicated in 335, they were destroyed by the Persians in 614. The two churches were rebuilt by Patriarch Modestus of Jerusalem c.626, but were later destroyed by the Muslims in 1009.  The present church of the Holy Sepulcher, rebuilt by the Crusaders, was dedicated in 1149.  Today also commemorated the discovery of the Lord’s cross by the empress, St. Helena, in 320.

Saints and Events in this week:  15–Fifteenth – Monday – Our lady of Sorrows; 16 –Sixteenth – Tuesday – Saints Cornelius, pope, and Cyprian, bishop, martyrs; 17–Seventeenth – Wednesday – Saint Robert Bellarmine, bishop, doctor of the Church; 19 – Nineteenth – Friday – Saint Januarius, bishop, martyr; 20 – Twentieth – Saturday – Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gon, priest and Paul Chong Ha-sang, and companions, martyrs;