WEBVTT 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:05.400 It doesn't take much observation to see that 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:10.759 we are celebrating, commemorating the cross, 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:15.539 the crucifixion of our Lord today. We're at the 00:00:15.539 --> 00:00:20.839 midpoint of Lent, and so the Church, in her wisdom, 00:00:21.059 --> 00:00:25.260 offers us the chance to venerate the cross, not 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:31.239 just to think about it or to talk about it, the 00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:35.539 blessing by kissing it and venerating it and 00:00:35.539 --> 00:00:38.560 contemplating the words that you just heard. 00:00:41.340 --> 00:00:44.460 Let me put this gospel in context because Jesus 00:00:44.460 --> 00:00:49.079 isn't just, as usual, just talking about religious 00:00:49.079 --> 00:00:52.960 things out of the blue. He didn't just have a 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:56.000 religious thought and he wanted to offer it to 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:02.810 people. The Gospel of Mark is short. This reading 00:01:02.810 --> 00:01:06.709 today comes in the exact middle, just like what 00:01:06.709 --> 00:01:10.069 we're celebrating, the middle of Lent. Three 00:01:10.069 --> 00:01:13.530 weeks we're going to be celebrating Lazarus Saturday. 00:01:14.670 --> 00:01:17.269 It's an important connection here, which I'll 00:01:17.269 --> 00:01:21.430 make, I hope, in just a moment. This wall painting 00:01:21.430 --> 00:01:24.829 is now completed. It's magnificent, and I thank 00:01:24.829 --> 00:01:30.129 Anton for his work. This gospel takes place in 00:01:30.129 --> 00:01:34.750 the middle of the gospel of Mark. The gospel 00:01:34.750 --> 00:01:37.790 of Mark is short. If you want to read the gospels, 00:01:37.870 --> 00:01:43.349 go to Mark first. It begins with the baptism, 00:01:43.510 --> 00:01:46.090 and then immediately Christ is casting out demons. 00:01:46.230 --> 00:01:51.230 He's healing people, paralyzed man, deaf people, 00:01:51.409 --> 00:02:00.819 people with demons. and blind people. And just 00:02:00.819 --> 00:02:05.019 before the account you heard, Christ heals a 00:02:05.019 --> 00:02:09.280 blind man. And you see that he's giving sight 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:14.319 to the blind, spiritual vision, understanding 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:19.800 of who he is, the Son of God. But those that 00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:23.400 say they can see are getting blinder and blinder, 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:27.229 more and more blind. They can't see, and they 00:02:27.229 --> 00:02:31.310 harden themselves against the message. They oppose 00:02:31.310 --> 00:02:36.629 it. And Jesus gathers his apostles together. 00:02:37.849 --> 00:02:41.930 And he says, who do people here say that I am? 00:02:43.370 --> 00:02:47.550 And, you know, he hears answers. Some say John 00:02:47.550 --> 00:02:49.750 the Baptist. You're John the Baptist, risen from 00:02:49.750 --> 00:02:52.699 the dead. Some say you're Elijah the prophet 00:02:52.699 --> 00:02:54.840 because Elijah must come again, we understand. 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:57.699 And he was taken up in a chariot of fire. He 00:02:57.699 --> 00:03:03.539 didn't die. And Jesus says to them, the group, 00:03:03.740 --> 00:03:09.259 but whom say ye, all of you, that I am? And Peter, 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:12.379 of course, steps up to answer for the group. 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:20.169 Thou art the Christ, the Messiah. And Jesus says, 00:03:20.389 --> 00:03:27.870 don't tell anyone. Why? Because people's idea 00:03:27.870 --> 00:03:30.349 of the Messiah is that he's going to come in 00:03:30.349 --> 00:03:34.409 on a big horse like the Maccabees with power 00:03:34.409 --> 00:03:39.289 and military might and attack the Romans and 00:03:39.289 --> 00:03:44.509 take the land back. Don't tell anyone. In fact, 00:03:44.629 --> 00:03:47.900 he began to teach them. Exactly the opposite 00:03:47.900 --> 00:03:53.159 of power. What does he say to them? The son of 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:56.340 man, that's himself, that's how he calls himself, 00:03:56.759 --> 00:04:03.620 must suffer many things and be rejected by his 00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:07.099 own people, by the elders, by the scribes, the 00:04:07.099 --> 00:04:12.280 chief priests, and be killed. And after three 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:14.840 days, rise again. Of course, they don't hear 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:20.459 that last part. Be killed. And Peter takes him 00:04:20.459 --> 00:04:26.339 aside. Master, this is not a good PR message. 00:04:27.180 --> 00:04:30.279 You're going to lose people with this kind of 00:04:30.279 --> 00:04:35.000 talk. Let's be more positive in our approach 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:41.879 to the message you have. Be seeker friendly. 00:04:43.819 --> 00:04:47.800 And Jesus... rebuked him. He called him Satan. 00:04:47.899 --> 00:04:51.139 Get behind me. You speak of the things of man, 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:57.079 not of the things of God. And then Jesus immediately 00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:00.060 calls people together, not just the apostles, 00:05:00.220 --> 00:05:05.160 but all the people around him. And he says, these 00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:13.100 hard words, whoever will come after me, let that 00:05:13.100 --> 00:05:19.550 person Deny himself. Pick up the cross. What 00:05:19.550 --> 00:05:22.750 do they hear? The cross. The cross is an instrument 00:05:22.750 --> 00:05:29.829 of horrible, horrible suffering, pain, shame, 00:05:29.949 --> 00:05:35.730 and death. And power by the military might. Let 00:05:35.730 --> 00:05:39.430 him pick up his cross and follow me. For whoever 00:05:39.430 --> 00:05:44.660 will save his life shall lose it. Whoever will 00:05:44.660 --> 00:05:48.519 lose his life for my sake and the gospels shall 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:52.920 save it. Because what will the profit a person? 00:05:53.060 --> 00:05:58.600 You gain the entire world, riches, power, everything 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:04.959 you want, all the pleasures of life. And lose 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:10.079 your soul. What will a man give in exchange for 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:16.110 his soul? Pretty much nothing. If it satisfies 00:06:16.110 --> 00:06:22.230 the yearnings that are limited to the ground. 00:06:23.490 --> 00:06:26.629 Who will be ashamed of me and my words in this 00:06:26.629 --> 00:06:31.350 adulterous and sinful generation? Do those words 00:06:31.350 --> 00:06:36.230 strike you oddly? This adulterous and sinful 00:06:36.230 --> 00:06:38.829 generation? You think things have gotten better 00:06:38.829 --> 00:06:43.560 since then? Of him also the Son of Man shall 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:47.300 be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his 00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:51.779 Father with the holy angels. The central event 00:06:51.779 --> 00:06:58.439 that is recorded by St. Mark is this. The central 00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:02.579 event in the life of Jesus Christ is the cross, 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:06.360 which leads to the resurrection. The central, 00:07:06.379 --> 00:07:11.199 most important thing And the life of a disciple 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:16.139 of Jesus Christ must be taking this message clearly 00:07:16.139 --> 00:07:24.980 and seriously and every day. I've read numerous 00:07:24.980 --> 00:07:28.060 sermons, incredible sermons about the Holy Cross. 00:07:28.860 --> 00:07:31.860 I can't tell you those things that those saints 00:07:31.860 --> 00:07:34.519 can tell you. But what I can tell you is this. 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:38.740 The cross of Christ. represents three things 00:07:38.740 --> 00:07:44.319 for us. The first thing it represents is the 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:50.360 rejection of God. The world reveals its evil, 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:56.000 its violence. All the Auschwitzes, all the abortions, 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:00.100 all the hatreds, all the rape. You name the horrible 00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:05.019 persecution and violence. That's what the cross 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:08.959 shows. It shows us all that is evil and opposed 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:13.259 to God. Otherwise, Jesus would not be led to 00:08:13.259 --> 00:08:17.079 the cross, but he willingly goes to reveal all 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:24.019 that for what it is. Opposition to God. But it 00:08:24.019 --> 00:08:27.680 also reveals the second thing. The incredible 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:32.899 love of God and his forgiveness. Because he goes. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:36.299 to destroy death, and the choir just sang those 00:08:36.299 --> 00:08:40.899 magnificent words. Return again to paradise. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:44.980 That's what the cross gives us because we are 00:08:44.980 --> 00:08:49.019 united to Jesus Christ when we pick up our cross 00:08:49.019 --> 00:08:52.559 and we oppose in ourselves all those things which 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:58.320 are seeds in us of the horrible tragedies and 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:01.740 sins that we see in the world. We have that within 00:09:01.740 --> 00:09:04.720 us, brothers and sisters, those seeds. When we 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:09.620 oppose hatred and anger and resentment, when 00:09:09.620 --> 00:09:15.519 we fast, we say no to ourself, and our willpower 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:18.519 muscle gets a little stronger, as I tell the 00:09:18.519 --> 00:09:21.179 catechumens, that we might not yell at the guy 00:09:21.179 --> 00:09:24.019 in the car next to us because we fasted a little 00:09:24.019 --> 00:09:28.250 bit. then we might not fall into temptation of 00:09:28.250 --> 00:09:31.169 those things that are continually hounding us, 00:09:31.269 --> 00:09:34.649 that we become addicted to, the impulses and 00:09:34.649 --> 00:09:40.950 convulsions. The cross reveals the love of God, 00:09:41.070 --> 00:09:45.250 and we enter into that love, not by strength, 00:09:45.470 --> 00:09:50.870 but by weakness, which is why we fast. That's 00:09:50.870 --> 00:09:55.740 how we deny ourself, literally deny. And the 00:09:55.740 --> 00:10:00.440 cross reveals one other thing. When we kiss it, 00:10:00.519 --> 00:10:06.059 when we cross ourself with it, we receive the 00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:09.980 power from on high, the grace of God, the love 00:10:09.980 --> 00:10:14.860 of God, the forgiveness of God, all the blessings 00:10:14.860 --> 00:10:18.580 of the cross. And then we can look at that fresco 00:10:18.580 --> 00:10:22.580 up there, which most of you can't see. It shows 00:10:22.580 --> 00:10:28.950 Martha coming to Jesus. said, Lord, if you had 00:10:28.950 --> 00:10:31.990 been here, my brother wouldn't have died. It's 00:10:31.990 --> 00:10:36.730 what St. John Chrysostom said in a sermon. God, 00:10:36.809 --> 00:10:42.710 why don't you do something? What could he do, 00:10:42.889 --> 00:10:45.929 St. John Chrysostom asks, except that he was 00:10:45.929 --> 00:10:50.850 born of a virgin. He suffered. He healed the 00:10:50.850 --> 00:10:55.919 blind. He healed the paralyzed. He fed the hungry. 00:10:56.399 --> 00:11:00.240 He forgave the sinners. He opened the doors of 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:03.679 paradise. He went to the cross. And the most 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:09.460 eloquent words of the Lord are silent. The word 00:11:09.460 --> 00:11:13.879 himself on the cross, dead. God has done everything 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:17.720 for us. And so he asks Martha, do you believe? 00:11:19.220 --> 00:11:23.830 And that's what we are asked to do today. When 00:11:23.830 --> 00:11:27.250 we stand and then kneel before the cross, those 00:11:27.250 --> 00:11:30.710 words of the gospel about picking up our cross, 00:11:30.830 --> 00:11:34.830 do we believe that we shall be changed? We spend 00:11:34.830 --> 00:11:38.769 so much time asking ourselves how we feel about 00:11:38.769 --> 00:11:42.129 ourselves that we've forgotten to ask, what shall 00:11:42.129 --> 00:11:50.009 we become? We are mirror images of God. Totally 00:11:50.009 --> 00:11:55.019 broken, each one of us. but we shall become like 00:11:55.019 --> 00:12:00.740 him as he is. I am the resurrection and the life, 00:12:00.820 --> 00:12:04.320 he says. Do you believe? Let us not just say 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:09.399 with our lips, but with all our life, making 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:15.799 the central fact of our life, like any disciple, 00:12:16.019 --> 00:12:19.899 the holy and precious cross. Amen.