Week of Holy Cross

2 Peter 1:1-11
Symeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of equal value to ours through the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ: may grace and peace be yours in abundance through knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and power. Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love. If these are yours and increase in abundance, they will keep you from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who lacks them is blind and shortsighted, forgetful of the cleansing of his past sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more eager to make your call and election firm, for, in doing so, you will never stumble. For, in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

John 3:11-21
Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 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. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Simon Peter speaks of making our call and election firm through faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, devotion, mutual affection and love. We must respond to our call and to God’s love through our own acts of love. Jesus tells us to love in the truth and believe and to not do wicked things. What we find is that faith is a transformation and not a label. I do not have faith in the same way I have citizenship, but in the way I have patriotism through external actiona and internal dispositions.

Lord, have mercy on us and save us.
O Creator and Savior of all,
you were raised on your cross between heaven and earth;
later it was the proof that you had risen from the dead
and conquered evil.
Save us each day and each hour.
May your cross be our companion every moment of our lives,
so that we may remain attached to the faith, have confidence
in you and love you.
Then we shall praise you with the whole world,
and glorify the Trinity of life,
now and forever. Amen.