Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 2:30-32
Mass: Num 21:4b-9; Resp Ps 78; Ph 2:6-11; Jn 3:13-17

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Musings are scattered and brief as we celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. 

First, with a little nostalgia. I remember clearly the line under today's photo from years as a young adult when I used to participate in the Stations of the Cross at a parish on the Fridays of Lent. As I recall, the line was recited at the beginning of each station: the first part, We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, by the minister; the second, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world,  by the assembly. Those gathered would sign themselves with the Sign of the Cross, then kneel or genuflect. The line remains in my heart and I reflect on it today. 

Second, I turn to the Preface before Eucharistic Prayer II, and this line:

Fulfilling your will and gaining for you a holy people,

he stretched out his hands as he endured his Passion,

so as to break the bonds of death and manifest the resurrection.

Third, Psalm 22, all rich for prayer and meditation this day:

All the ends of the earth

will worship and turn to the Lord;

all the families of nations

will bow low before you.

For kingship belongs to the Lord,

the ruler over the nations.

All who sleep in the earth

will bow low before God;

All who have gone down into the dust

will kneel in homage.

And I will live for the Lord;

my descendants will serve you.

The generation to come will be told of the Lord,

that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn,

the deliverance you have brought.

(Ps 22:28-32)

THOSE WHO SEEK THE LORD WILL OFFER PRAISE.

MAY YOUR HEARTS ENJOY LIFE FOREVER!

(Ps 22:27)