NUMBERS 21: 4-9
PSALM 77: 1-2, 34-38 R. v. 7
PHILIPPIANS 2: 6-11
JOHN 3: 13-17

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The feast of the exaltation of the cross goes back a long way. In 326 the Emperor Constantine’ mother, Helena, at the grand age of 80, set sail for Jerusalem to find the cross of Jesus and his tomb. She found the site of the Holy Sepulchre and established a church on the site, which is venerated to this day.

The true cross was more elusive. It was claimed that the Jewish leaders had hidden the cross in a well in Jerusalem. One of the Jewish leaders told the Empress Helena in which well to look for it. The story goes that they dug for days and found three crosses. They weren’t sure which one was the true cross, so the bishop of Jerusalem, St Macarius, sent the crosses off to the bed-side of a dying woman. She touched the first two crosses to no effect, but on touching the third cross she immediately recovered. St Helena had found her true cross.

The cross remained in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem until the early 7th century. The entire city was then looted by the Persian King, Chosroes II. He took the cross to Persia. In 628, Emperor Heraclius II overthrew the Persian king and brought the cross first to Constantinople, his capital and then in 629 to Jerusalem. Today’s feast commemorate the triumphant return of the holy cross to Jerusalem.

Today, the Church invites us to enter into a deeper meaning of what the holy cross stands for.

The reality of life is that suffering will come to all of us in some way or other. And suffering and death is the consequence of sin. But sin does not have the last word. Today’s feast celebrates Jesus victory over sin. This is what make the holy cross a rich symbol of God’s triumph.

Because Jesus suffered and died on the cross, he is there with us in our suffering. Suffering can sometimes lead us to sin itself. But through Jesus is found the power of God’s love to overcome sinfulness and always be life giving. For the cross is not a sign of death but through Jesus has become a sign of life and love.
The holy cross ultimately points to our destiny to be united with Christ in heaven where there will be no more evil or sin or death.

WISDOM 9: 13-18
PSALM 89: 3-6, 12-14, 17 R. v. 1
PHILEMON 9-10, 12-17
LUKE 14: 25-33

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As we celebrate Father’s Day today/tomorrow, our Gospel reading seems to be inappropriate.
However in fact it is quite apt. Today’s reading is a continuation of Jesus’ teaching in Luke’s Gospel about Christian discipleship. Here, Jesus stresses that the essential condition for discipleship is total dedication and commitment to Christ. it is not that Jesus is asking us to hate father, mother, sister, brother or ourselves. In the Hebrew language of his time, there was no phrase for a “loving less”. Maybe even that can seem a bit harsh.

But Jesus is stressing the priority of our relationship with God over others. In the parables that follows, Jesus stresses that unless we can truly make a commitment of our faith in God, we risk being drawn away from God by other attractions. God must come first before all else for only God gives true life.

There is wisdom in today’s Gospel about the truth and beauty of Christian discipleship. It is when we place God first in our lives, that everyone, our family and everything else, which is also important to us, take a whole new meaning. Instead of allowing the pursuit of our career, social life, family and material goods distract us from our relationship from God, Jesus is inviting us to make God the centre of all these aspects of our lives.

When God becomes the centre of our family for instance, then the family becomes the source of our experience of God’s love, filled with God’s grace. When we bring God into our work, our attitude towards work takes on a Christian dimension. Work does not become a drudge but an occasion to be a witness to God in our joy and thanksgiving. Even as a priest, I must remind myself that it is God’s work I do, and when I offer my ministry to God in prayer, I am amazed what God does even through my own weakness.

As we celebrate Father’s Day today, today’s message about Christian discipleship is also applicable to the role of fathers. As in a family, when the father places their family above all else, their work, their hobbies and their desires, it is their family that is transformed by the father’s commitment to them. And when the father places God first above all else, their fatherhood is also transformed, their family life takes on a new and deeper meaning.

Make your fatherhood as an offering to God. Offering yourself to God is like Jesus offering his life for us, trusting in his Father in following His way.

You can become the best father by becoming the best Christian that you can be.