We’re bumping the 24 th Sunday in Ordinary Time today to celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Father Eymard must have loved this feast because its message inspired his deepest reflections about the gift of self. Let’s begin our own reflection using today’s passage from Paul’s letter to the Philippians.
“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.” This emptying didn’t happen all at once. Remember, Jesus was human like us. He had an ego. He experienced fear and loss just like us. Making the gift of self to his Father wasn’t instantaneous; it was a process, but essential to his mission. The process comes into focus when we view his moments of fear and anxiety.
In the garden of Gethsemane, we see him in agony, begging his Father, three times, to take the cup of suffering from him. We see him, three times, crying out through his tears, “Not my will but yours.” Each time he prays it’s more desperate. Each prayer digs deeper into his being.
The cross is the last step of his mission. On that cross Jesus pours out his body and soul. It’s on that cross that Jesus overcomes all resistance, giving himself totally to the Father. On that cross Jesus, by emptying himself, becomes the Christ, the living portal of the Kingdom. His outstretched arms become the bridge connecting heaven and earth. He mounts the cross, the instrument of torture and death, but his death on that cross changes everything. From the moment of his death the cross is transformed into the eternal image of redemptive love, sacrificial love.
We have so much to think about today…the power of the cross… Jesus’ gift of self…my gift of self.
