Today we celebrate the Holy Cross that all our hopes and dreams literally hang on with Jesus Christ, our Savior. He died on the cross for us to save us. He sacrificed himself for us because he loves us. He is willing to do anything for us mortals to get to Heaven because God wants us in Heaven with him forever. Without this Cross, we could not be saved, and that is why we celebrate the wood that Christ died on for us. He gave himself up for us.
As I sure you have heard me say, the more we act like Christ, more likely we will get to Heaven. I say this because we need to be like Christ in every action and not when it is convenient or we feel like it. We should be wanting to sacrifice everything for Christ. As you might have heard me say last week, we need to be willing even hate our family to get closer to God. We need to be willing to anything for Christ and to be like Christ.
This sacrifice is something that God is calling everyone to do. Do we sacrifice something every single day? Do we give something up to unite our sufferings with Christ? In the world today, it is all about me, myself, and I. Do not worry about other people unless it helps you to get to where you want to be. Whenever it no longer helps or you fall out of love for someone, just cast them away and do not look back because your life will be better without them. The world is all about doing what is best for myself and not sacrificing anything, especially for others. Just look out for yourself and do not think about others.
I would hope that you do not fall into this thinking; it can be easy because that is what we humans naturally want to do. We want to only think about ourselves and be selfish. It is easy to do this, but as the Cross reminds us, Jesus is calling us to be a better place where we are willing to sacrifice ourselves and our lives for God and others. We are called to unite our sacrifice with Jesus’ and be thankful when we suffer. Now, this is difficult, but we can all do that. We can and should sacrifice for others, especially when we do not feel like it.
I would hope that we all sacrifice for our families and do things that we do not like for them. Usually, in a family, we sacrifice for them and will do anything for them, but I am sure we might not do this every single time, and sometimes we can just be selfish and not sacrifice for others. Maybe something to help with sacrifice is to do it for prayer or offering to God for someone or something. Where we suffer for a purpose and say, “God, I do this sacrifice for this person or this intention.” I find it easier to suffer when it is to as an offering for something. So, the next time that you do not want to sacrifice, think of someone or something as an offering to God for. I think the reason why we suffer for our family is because we love them and will do anything for them, and that is what this offering is all about.
Brothers and sisters, this Holy Cross should remind us of all the suffering and sacrifice that Jesus did for us to save us and let us try just a little bit to suffer with him and unite that suffering as an intention for someone or something else and hope this will help us to sacrifice for others and not be selfish like this world wants us to be.
Given on Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.