Reflection for Friday January 9 Feast of our Lord Jesus Christ, Señor Jesus Nazareno: John 3:13-17

Gospel: John 3:13-17

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And 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, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

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Reflection:

Do we know the story of the True Cross of Jesus?

After the death of Jesus, there was an intense persecution of Christians. Yet in the year 312 AD, the Church entered a new era. This was the time when Constantine I embraced the Christian faith and became the first Christian emperor of Rome. One of his first edicts was to stop the persecution of Christians.

It is said that Constantine deputized his mother, Helena, to gather Christian relics. She traveled to the Holy Land, and while there, she discovered the three crosses used during the crucifixion of Jesus and the two thieves—Dismas and Gestas.

Since there were three crosses, her dilemma was to find the real cross of Jesus. So she called on sick people from the community and let them touch each of the three crosses. Among the three, there was one that stood out, because it instantly healed those who touched it. Helena then declared it to be the True Cross of Jesus.

Today, we celebrate the Feast of our Lord Jesus Christ, Señor Jesus Nazareno. Unlike other Christians whose cross is without Jesus, our cross is never complete without Him on it. And as much as possible, we do not only want to touch the cross—we want to touch Jesus Himself through His cross.

Oftentimes, our cross symbolizes the burdens that we carry in life—these can be sickness or problems. A young mother was once asked, “Who is your cross?” She replied without hesitation, “It is my irresponsible husband, because he is always with his friends, indulging in drinking sprees, and whenever he comes home, he subjects me to physical and emotional abuse.”

Each and every one of us has our own cross—something that makes life difficult, something that weighs heavily on our hearts. Sometimes we even ask, “Why is it that the closer we draw to Jesus, the heavier the cross we seem to carry?” The cross we carry is a test of our faith. We may not fully understand the presence of Jesus in our lives unless we, too, learn to carry and endure our own cross in silence and trust.

What is important is this: whenever we carry our cross, we do not carry it alone. We are invited to ask Jesus to help us carry it and to walk with us in our painful journey. Let us not question why we have our cross, because the cross that burdens us today is nothing compared to the cross that Jesus carried for our sake.

Here lies the great paradox of our faith: the cross that caused Jesus so much suffering became the instrument for the fulfillment of His mission. That same cross has become the symbol of our salvation. There is no glory in the cross without the saving sacrifice of Jesus. And there is no true meaning to our own suffering unless we unite it with His.

So today, let us ask ourselves: What cross are we carrying right now? What burden is weighing down our hearts, testing our faith, and challenging our trust in God?

Let us look up to Jesus. Let us close our eyes. And in the silence of our hearts, let us humbly ask Him not to take away our cross—but to give us the grace to carry it with Him.

And the question that remains for all of us is this: Are we willing to embrace our cross and walk with Jesus, trusting that—like His—it, too, can become a path to resurrection? — Marino J. Dasmarinas