The First Reading of the Mass tells us how the Lord punished the Chosen People for murmuring against Moses and against Yahweh, when they experienced the hardships of the desert, by sending them serpents that wreaked havoc among the Israelites. When they repented, the Lord said to Moses, "Make a bronze serpent and set it up as a sign; whoever looks at it will live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it up as a sign, and the wounded who looked upon it were healed. The bronze serpent was a sign of Christ on the Cross, in whom those who look upon him obtain salvation. This is how Jesus expresses it in his conversation with Nicodemus, recorded in the Gospel: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes may have eternal life in him8. Since then, the path of holiness passes through the Cross, and something so lacking in it, such as sickness, pain, poverty, failure..., voluntary mortification, takes on meaning. Moreover, God blesses with the Cross when he wishes to bestow great good upon one of his children, whom he then treats with particular predilection.
Many people flee from the Cross of Christ as if on the run, and they distance themselves from true joy, from the supernatural efficacy that fills the heart, from holiness itself; they flee from Christ. Let us bear it without rebellion, without complaint, with love. "Are you suffering great tribulation? -Do you have contradictions? Say, very slowly, as if to taste it, this strong and virile prayer:
"May it be done, may it be fulfilled, may the most just and most gracious Will of God, above all things, be praised and eternally exalted. Amen. Amen.
"I assure you that you will attain peace".
Hablar con Dios