livingtheword

Download Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Reflection Questions.

1. The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross provides an opportunity to learn of the humility and saving love revealed on the Cross.
2. In the Catholic readings each Sunday the first reading has a special relationship with the Gospel. The Old Testament Reading is fulfilled in the New Testament, and the New Testament is revealed in the Old Testament. Without the Old Testament we would not understand the meaning of the cross and sacrifice. Ponder the image from the Book of Numbers. What ‘bites’ you? Can you see what ‘bites’ you (sin) is now nailed to a pole (the cross of Jesus)? Do you have the courage to ‘look at the serpent’?
3. Is your patience worn out by the journey of life, feeling like you are only being fed with ‘disgusting food’? Have you ever pondered the significance of the desert journey changing you from one phase of your life to another? What place have you left, what is your complaint, and can you trust God?
4. C.S. Lewis a great Christian writer invites us to use our imagination. Imagine God becoming a puppy! What a humble thought, leaving behind glory and power and taking the position of a puppy with all its limitations. In fact, God becoming human has followed this same humble path. And gone even further, ‘to being nailed to a cross’. What does this image teach you about the true nature of God? What needs to change within you about your image of God?
5. The character of Nicodemus is a man of great learning approaching Jesus under the cover of darkness (Jn 3:1). He was afraid of believing in Jesus as it would mean his whole life would change. He was a ‘leader of the Jews’ and when Jews became Christian they were publicly disowned and even their own family held a funeral for them. Jesus shares one of the most beautiful and often remembered sentences in the Gospels. How do you understand the cross: condemnation or salvation? Have you been helped to recognise God’s ‘judgement’ is ‘mercy’? What does this mean for you?
6. In the Gospel of John, the phrase the Son of Man ‘lifted up’ is like a winning sports coach being ‘lifted up’ onto the shoulders of the team. A victory has occurred. What is the victory that has taken place historically on the cross?
7. What is one action that you will do to be ‘livingtheword’ this week?