09/14/14 The Difference the Cross Makes

Homily from the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

"Today is the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross. If I look at this image on this back wall, this is the Crucifix. This is an image of Jesus dying, but we have to understand this, this is an image of Jesus being executed. We say, 'No, it's a sacrifice.' No, it's an execution! This is what the Romans would do to execute them. Jesus wasn't the only person who was executed, there were thousands of people who were executed at the time of Jesus. They all just had their lives ripped away from them. We know this, mere execution has the power to change nothing. Without Jesus on the Cross, if our lives just ended, we would just end, it would be a tragedy. But because of the Cross, everything changes, but not because it's an execution. But because it's a sacrifice. How do you know it's a sacrifice? ... There's one thing, there's one thing that transforms the Crucifixion from an execution into a sacrifice. And that thing is the Eucharist.'"

Mass Readings from September 14, 2014:
Numbers 21:4-9
Philippians 2:6-11
John 3:13-17