Salvation Rests On Firm Belief

𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓. 𝟏𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐗𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐘 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐍𝐮𝐦 𝟐𝟏:𝟒-𝟗

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟕𝟖:𝟏-𝟐, 𝟑𝟒-𝟑𝟖 “𝐃𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝.”

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟐: 𝐏𝐡𝐢 𝟐:𝟔-𝟏𝟏

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟑:𝟏𝟑-𝟏𝟕

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.” (𝒗.15) 

As we celebrate today the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, the gospel reading should move us to ask ourselves what is it that we believe in. Certainly, there is something that each one of us believes in. Some probably believe in their own talent and skill that he could use to build his future.  

         There are some who may believe that material possessions are the be-all and end-all of life. Still, there will be those who believe that life is short, indeed it is, and they will enjoy every moment of it even if their lifestyle is devoid of any morals. Whatever, you’ve got to believe in something, and no one goes through life without believing in something.

           This thought that life is short is probably what motivated those DPWH engineers, private contractors as well as their congressmen-benefactors to dip their hands into the government coffers so they can enjoy life to the fullest even if such is littered with stolen money.

         And if someone is to tell you that when your life ends your salvation will depend on what you believed in how would you react? This in fact is what this gospel is all about because your final destination is contingent on the choices you make in life.

         God is so good that in our lifetime we are given the privilege to choose the way we want to go and sometimes we prefer the way of the world seeking fame and fortune, the comfort and convenience of the material world but losing the glory in the process because the path to eternal reward is strewn with suffering and pain.

         No pain, no glory is a metaphoric phrase that we often hear of athletes who have to train hard in their pursuit of victory and this also rings true to the practice of our faith because if there is no cross, there can be no victory to hope for.

         And the key that will unlock the way to the eternal reward that God has promised is founded on our believing in Him whom God has sent down from heaven to help us transform our lives so that we will be worthy of going into the Kingdom of Heaven.

         To believe as mentioned in 𝐯𝐯. 𝟏𝟓-𝟏𝟔 of the Gospel is not just a condition to accept that Jesus indeed is God but to believe in the language of the Jews and the Greeks is to completely put our trust and confidence in Jesus that He alone can save us and redeem us from our sinful nature.

At first, you might think that this gospel passage is disconnected as John wrote about Jesus telling Nicodemus of the time when Moses lifted up an image of the serpent in the desert (𝐍𝐮𝐦 𝟐𝟏:𝟖-𝟗) and equating this with his own crucifixion and an uniformed reader of the Scriptures may end up getting confused especially with regards to the practice of our faith particularly with reference to images.

         To correct the misunderstanding of this Old Testament event, the Rabbis themselves explained that it was not the serpent that restored life but God. The serpent was only a symbol that the people who, because of their complaining attitude, were bitten by the snake and were made well if they turn their thoughts to God by looking up at the pole with the serpent on it.

         And this is where we can draw a parallelism with our Christian faith because all we have to do to have our lives restored from the sinful world to which we have sunk ourselves in is to simply look up to the cross with the image of Christ nailed to it.

         This is something that we Christians cannot overlook because to look at the Cross and share in the suffering of Jesus who is nailed to the Cross is inextricably linked to the eternal reward that God has promised those who will believe in Him because the Way of the Cross is the way to Glory.

          But this is not so with many Christians who shun away from the cross thinking perhaps that the free choice that we have given us the freedom to choose the path we are to take. Many still entertain the notion that salvation is given even to sinners who repent at the time of death.

          The problem is this is not how it works because salvation is given only to those who will believe in Jesus Christ whom God sent as an expiation for our sins. To believe in the Son of Man is not just to know about him but to believe in Jesus is to place our lives in the palm of his hand.  

         To believe in Him is to trust His Words as reliable and credible and, to depend on Him who alone can provide us the power to transform ourselves so that we may be worthy enough to receive the eternal life as our reward for believing in Jesus the Christ.

         Thus, to believe has three important elements in it. We must believe that God loves us, that he cares for us and that God wants nothing more than to forgive us of our sins. We also must believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that everything he says is true. And believing also means that we must obey whatever he commands us to do. We must rely on his Word such that all our actions are done in unquestioning obedience to him.

         The Cross with Jesus nailed on it is the only way to salvation, the only way to escape the condemnation that awaits all unbelievers at the last judgment and Jesus goes on to say in that “𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑯𝒊𝒎.” (𝒗.17)

Sin fills our world, and we are all guilty of sin and we cannot escape condemnation if we will remain in our sinful state and the only way to escape such condemnation is to believe in the Son of God, Himself.

         Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross and even among us Christians there are many who don’t understand the significance of the Cross in our lives. By making the sign of the Cross, we profess the most important mysteries of our Catholic faith – the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity and of the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. By uniting all the three persons of the Trinity we profess our belief in God.

         The sign of the Cross is not an empty ritual, but it is in itself a blessing and a prayer for a blessing from God. The sign of the Cross drives away the devil and its temptations as with a dog who fears the whip with which it is beaten and so it is with the devil who dreads the sign of the Cross because it reminds the evil one of his defeat on Calvary.

         We should make the sign of the Cross when we wake up in the morning and before we sleep at night, before and after our prayers, before and after our meals, whenever we are tempted to sin and, when we have any important duty to perform and, possibly at all times with holy water.

         There was an old story that tells of a stag (deer) with a tag on its antlers saying: “𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘳, 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵” and no hunter dared to shoot this deer. When we make the sign of the Cross, we also put a tag on our person saying: “𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕” and this will protect us from our enemy the devil.

         And St. John Damascene says: “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎.”        

To end, please allow me to quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church which says in 𝐂𝐂𝐂𝟏𝟐𝟓𝟕 “𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬: “𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭. 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐧.”

The baptized person dedicates the day to the glory of God and calls on the Savior’s grace which lets him act in the Spirit as a child of the Father. The sign of the cross strengthens us in temptations and difficulties.” (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵. 14, 2025)