Be fueled by love! Did you say Jesus 1000 times today? Always look to the cross!

Be fueled by love! Did you say Jesus 1000 times today? We celebrate the cross and the love Jesus showed us as He was willing to die for us and our sins, out of love, the cross is love, it is the love Jesus showed us for the forgiveness of our sins. We need to always look to that cross knowing that it can heal us, it can save us, it can prevent us from dying, or going to hell! The readings this week in the Sunday mass are very specific and clear, we need to look to the cross! It can save us! The first reading showed us the mercy of God to the Jews in the desert suffering from snake bites, He gave a command and when the people looked at the bronze saraph they would not die from the snake bites. We are reminded in the Gospel this week that when we look to the cross, when we follow Jesus, when we forgive, imitate, reflect, and love like Jesus we are promised life eternal in Heaven with Him! We cannot be afraid of the snakes or Jesus or the cross, they are our Salvation when we follow Him! Do not forget the works of the Lord! We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your Cross you have redeemed the world. Like it says in the second reading today, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth. My spouse was telling me today how his grandmothers on this feast day in Colombia of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross would have to say or pray 1000 times the name of Jesus on this day. We need to live by following Jesus, be fueled by His love!  We all need to remember that for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Jesus Jesus Jesus, you are my Savior, I will keep looking at you on the cross each day, because you are Jesus, you are love! 

 Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Reading 1
Numbers 21:4b-9
With their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,
"Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!"
In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,
"We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us."
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
"Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live."
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
R. (see 7b) Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Hearken, my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable,
I will utter mysteries from of old.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
While he slew them they sought him
and inquired after God again,
Remembering that God was their rock
and the Most High God, their redeemer.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But they flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues,
Though their hearts were not steadfast toward him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But he, being merciful, forgave their sin
and destroyed them not;
Often he turned back his anger
and let none of his wrath be roused.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!

Reading 2
Philippians 2:6-11
Brothers and sisters:
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

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

Gospel
John 3:13-17
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
"No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.