Fr. Roger J. Landry
Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem
Latin Altar of the Nailing of Christ on the Cross
Leonine Forum Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
December 4, 2021
Nm 21:4-9, Ps 78, Phil 2:6-11, Jn 3:13-17
To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
The following points were attempted in the homily:
- Most of us look at the Cross as fundamentally a symbol and instrument of torture and pain, for good reason, because humanly it was the most sadistic and ignominious form of capital punishment the Romans had devised.
- But it is far more than that. It is a sign and instrument of the love that made even that much suffering bearable and of the healing remedy God out of love gave us through it. St. John in the Gospel tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that we might not perish but have eternal life. As he was lifted up here on Calvary, he became the new bronze serpent, reminding us of our sin and of our need to cry out to God for help. It’s through looking at him on Calvary that we see the mercy we need, the mercy so costly acquired.
- But Jesus calls us to pick up our cross each day to follow him. That means not just a life of mortification but of the love that is expressed through bearing sufferings out of love for God and others. St. Paul calls us to have in ourselves the same mindset that was in Christ Jesus who became obedient even to death on a Cross. That’s the mindset we’re summoned to have, to find in the Cross our instrument of love, our glory, our power, our wisdom and our only hope.
- We climb Calvary and celebrate the triumph of the Cross at every Mass. As we prepare to receive the body spiked to timber here and the blood that dripped from Christ’s five wounds, let us ask his help to be able to continue our pilgrimage by following him on the way of the Cross all the way to the fulfillment of the Resurrection.
The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading I
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
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 II
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
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.
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