The Israelites in the desert had taken their eyes off of what God was doing for them, so they began to complain. God was freeing them from slavery and leading them to the promised land, but their complaints and hardness of hearts caused them to be dead in sin. To symbolize their spiritual death, saraph serpents killed many of the Israelites. Yet, realizing they had sinned, they repented. A saraph serpent was then placed on a pole, and became the remedy for their sin.
Failing to recognize that Jesus was truly the Son of God, Jesus told the Pharisees that they would die in their sins unless they looked upon him and believed that he was God.
In these dark times, even many Catholics look to the crucified one and see nothing. They fail to make Him the God of their life. They fail to recognize Him as savior. They refuse his call to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.
It is the task of faithful Christians to hold him up for the world to see—in our speech, in our behaviors, and in our prayers, that they may see him and believe.
The great lover of the Crucified, St. Paul of the Cross, would often go from parish to parish, preaching parish missions. When he would preach these missions, he would often hold out to the congregation a crucifix, and simply holding the crucifix out for all to see, he would say, “listen to his love.”
He said, "When you are alone in your room, take your crucifix, kiss its five wounds reverently, tell it to preach to you a little sermon, and then listen to the words of eternal life that it speaks to your heart; listen to the pleading of the thorns, the nails, the precious Blood. Oh, what an eloquent sermon!"
Look at the hands of Jesus, always open during life, still open, still giving, healing to the last drop of blood.
Look at the feet of Jesus, which climbed the mountain of Calvary, now lifted up and nailed to the cross for our salvation.
Look at the side of Jesus from which flowed the blood and water, the fountain of the sacramental life of the Church
It is up to us, dear brethren, to help those who do not look upon Christ with faith, to see that he reaches out to them from the cross with tremendous love. We are to help them embrace Him, as he longs to bring them mercy, strength, and peace, as he has for us. May each of us keep his tremendous outpouring of love ever before our eyes, in our mind, and in our hearts, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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