“What Kills You Makes You Stronger” by Brian Flanagan

“What Kills You Makes You Stronger” by Brian Flanagan

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”  “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”.  Sayings like these are “a dime a dozen”.  I certainly don’t have “an axe to grind” against idioms and expressions, but sometimes they can be “over the top.”  “Your guess is as good as mine” whether I’m “biting off more than I can chew” here, but I’m going to keep using them until I “run out of steam”.  Maybe it will be “a piece of cake”.

“Let’s cut to the chase”.  All three of this Sunday’s readings are “on the same page” (literally and figuratively).  The First Reading and the Gospel always have a connection, and when the Second Reading does too, “it’s icing on the cake”.  This Sunday is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross when we celebrate the Lord’s “come from behind” victory over death…by death itself.

Apparently it’s more like “whatever kills you makes you stronger”, not “whatever doesn’t”. The Crucifixion was a real “flash in the pan” for the Devil.  It seemed to be going so well – but in the end it was a “fool’s errand”.  “Make no bones about it” – the living God could not remain in death.  Christ took on all the world’s sin, and “the bigger they are the harder they fell”.  In His victory on the cross, Christ sent death “to hell in a hand basket” giving up his very life for us.  Truly “actions speak louder than words”.  “Close, but no cigar”, Satan.

The First Reading tells the story of Moses and the “bronze serpent”, a scene that’s practically “the spitting image” of the Crucifixion.  Just like the bronze serpent was “a dead ringer” for what was killing the people.  Just as everyone was healed who looked upon the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up, everyone who looks upon the Lord lifted up on the cross and believes, can inherit eternal life.  We get the chance to “let bygones be bygones” and “start from scratch”.

Also, the Cross goes far beyond just getting us “off the hook” for our sin; but through Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection, we “go from rags to riches” and become adopted sons and daughters of God.

God offers us this healing through the Cross, but “the ball is in our court” now.  We’re called to “bet the farm” on it.  We have to go “the whole nine yards”, really “putting all our eggs in one basket” and not “talking out both sides of our mouth” about Jesus depending on our circumstances.

Have you “gotten up on the wrong side of the bed” so far in your spiritual life?  “Keep your chin up.”  Perhaps some of your struggles might even turn into afflictions to boast about, as St. Paul says, just like the Cross – because they may become the very things God uses to get you “back on the right track.”