September 14, 2025.
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3, 14-17)
God’s love is manifested continually and in many ways, but the incarnation, torment, death, and resurrection of Christ, together with his presence in the Eucharist, is the supreme and unsurpassed demonstration of that love. Seeing Christ crucified draws us in, and in doing so, it touches our hearts, and thus arouses within us gratitude, the desire to love more each day the One who has loved us so much. The cross, with the Crucified One nailed to it, is proof of an infinite love that far surpasses any other gift we could receive from God: money, work, health… We often fail to understand God’s silence, but it is in reality a silence broken by the crucified Christ. When we see Him, we must exclaim: I don’t understand why you allow this or that to happen to me, but I don’t doubt your love for me, because more valuable than this miracle I ask of you is the fact that You died for me to forgive my sins and open the gates of heaven to me.
And if this happens to us with Christ, it can also happen to others, not only seeing Him crucified, but seeing ourselves when we are suffering and, despite that, we do not despair, we do not become bitter, we do not distance ourselves from Him and it is from Him that we draw the strength to continue fighting, to forgive, to start over, to love even those who do not deserve it because they have hurt us or are hurting us. In this way, our suffering can become a testimony that draws people not to ourselves, but to Christ, because, as Saint Paul said, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” This is the best example we can give to those in our family when they are far from God.
Intentions: Contemplate the Crucified One, thank Him for His love, and allow yourself to be drawn to Him. Join Him on your own cross to bear witness that with Christ one can be happy even when suffering.