Homily – 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Each time I say Mass for the schools – I ask myself what are our students seeing and what is going through their mind. An object which they cannot miss is the Cross. It is  fixed in a prominent position of the church.  In some churches the crosses are quite striking – their incredible size, detail and realness.  I wonder if they were ever at one stage felt shocked. It would be reasonable for a child to ask “why did Jesus have to die in such a way?” or “how could someone be treated in a such a way?” Looking upon a cross one cannot help but ask questions and be drawn into contemplation.

It has been said that the cross is a paradox. On one hand, it captures how an individual was overcome by brutality of the worst kind. On the other hand, the strength of the cross lies not in physical strength. When physical strength is exhausted, what is left? The cross is not for us to dwell in hopelessness. It is to draw us beyond such a state.

For those who look upon the cross know submission is not a weakness. Submission is often understood in a negative sense, however, St Paul’s offers us a way to look at the Cross. Christ emptied himself to accepting his fate on the cross. This acceptance is what we are celebrating in the Feast of the The Exaltation of the Holy Cross that we might be saved. God is willing to go to any length to offer us a share in his life “God raised him high and gave him the name which is above other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

By Fr Hoang Dinh