Mass Reading: Sunday - 14th September 2025

First reading

Numbers 21:4-9

If anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked up at the bronze serpent and lived

    On the way through the wilderness the people lost patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’

    At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.

The word of the Lord.

________

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 77(78):1-2,34-38

Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

Give heed, my people, to my teaching;

    turn your ear to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable

    and reveal hidden lessons of the past.

Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

When he slew them then they would seek him,

    return and seek him in earnest.

They would remember that God was their rock,

    God the Most High their redeemer.

Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

But the words they spoke were mere flattery;

    they lied to him with their lips.

For their hearts were not truly with him;

    they were not faithful to his covenant.

Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

Yet he who is full of compassion

    forgave them their sin and spared them.

So often he held back his anger

    when he might have stirred up his rage.

Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

________

Second reading

Philippians 2:6-11

Christ humbled himself but God raised him high

His state was divine,

yet Christ Jesus did not cling

to his equality with God

but emptied himself

to assume the condition of a slave

and became as men are;

and being as all men are,

he was humbler yet,

even to accepting death,

death on a cross.

But God raised him high

and gave him the name

which is above all 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.

The word of the Lord.

________

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

We adore you, O Christ, 

and we bless you;

because by your cross 

you have redeemed the world.

Alleluia!

________

Gospel

John 3:13-17

God sent his Son so that through him the world might be saved

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

‘No one has gone up to heaven

except the one who came down from heaven,

the Son of Man who is in heaven;

and the Son of Man must be lifted up

as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,

so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost

but may have eternal life.

For God sent his Son into the world

not to condemn the world,

but so that through him the world might be saved.’

The Gospel of the Lord.

Mass Reflection: Sunday - 14th September 2025

 

NM 21: 4B-9; PS 78: 1BC-2, 34-38; PHIL 2: 6-11; JN 3:13-17

On this Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we celebrate the Holy Cross as the instrument of our salvation. Multiple times in scripture, a reference is made to Jesus having been “hung on a tree.” This reference to the Cross as a tree has a much deeper meaning for us. The Cross became a life-giving tree for us, and it turned around Adam’s original sin when he ate of the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The Cross is so central to our beliefs.

The readings for this Feast each have a strong relationship to our appreciation of and our understanding of the meaning of the Cross. The first reading is from the Book of Numbers. Numbers is the fourth Book in our Old Testament (also the fourth book of what is called the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament). It derives its name from the historical fact that it involves two censuses taken of the Israelites during their time in the wilderness, one at the beginning of the trek and one at the end. This passage from Numbers 21 describes how the people are discouraged, and they literally speak out against God. One of the hallmarks of stewardship is trust in God, faith in the Lord, our hope in salvation through Jesus Christ. Like the Israelites, we may at times become discouraged, but we must always focus on the fact that God is there for us always, that He watches over us, and that He is our strength.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians, our second reading, presents Jesus as the ultimate example of humility. As much as we may resist it, humility is another key characteristic of a stewardship way of life. From His humble beginnings in a manger to the humiliation of death on the Cross, Jesus bore humility like none other. His example of humility is a standard for each of us as we approach living as a steward. St. Paul makes reference to some of Jesus’ humiliations, but it is well for us to keep in mind all the ways the Lord might have approached living among us, but He chose the more humble approach consistently, represented by His birth, the fact that he came as a baby, not as a grown adult; His willingness to be a child beholden to His parents; His humble way of teaching and addressing people; His humble approach to life in general, becoming a carpenter, a basic and useful trade; but most of all His humble acceptance of death on the Cross with all of the agony and sacrifice associated with 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.” (John 3:16) That scriptural statement, considered by many to be the central and climactic point of John’s entire Gospel, is so full of consequence to us as Catholics and Christians that we could almost analyze it in detail phrase by phrase. Let us just examine the opening phrase, “For God so loved the world…” We tend to filter our own understandings through the many ways a word is used and what it may mean to us. The word “love” certainly falls into that category. The love described here, the love that God feels for us, that He felt for His Son, and that was returned to Him by His Son, is a love almost beyond our comprehension. It is a complete love, shared with all and felt for all, believers and non-believers. There is no way that we can match or equal that love. It is a love beyond our ability to feel, but that is exactly what we are called to strive toward. Another word for stewardship is quite simply “love” — unconditional and total.