Jen + Juice

Sunday, September 14, 2025
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

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First Reading:
Numbers 21:4b-9
The first reading is a story of the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness. The people were getting impatient and frustrated, complaining to God and Moses.

Their lack of gratitude and trust in the process led to consequences, or divine intervention, with deadly serpents.

When the people realized their lack of devotion to God, through faith, trust, and gratitude, they asked for forgiveness from God. God responded with mercy, telling Moses to create a bronze serpent and lift it up onto a pole. Anyone who had been bitten by the snakes could look at the bronze serpent and be healed.

Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
The responsorial psalm is telling a symbolic story about when Israel would stray from God. When God intervened to get them back on track, they would surrender and seek God again. But their repentance was often superficial, mere words and not true with embodied conviction.

God was merciful and redeemed them when they were sincerely remorseful — divine mercy is greater than our failures.

Second Reading:
Philippians 2:6-11
Jesus truly shares God’s divine nature, yet Jesus didn’t cling to or attach himself to God’s status or privilege. He still remained humble and did not want or expect special treatment or worshipping.

He emptied himself, let go of the divine glory, to become human embracing humility and service.

He embodied full obedience to God’s Will, even to the most shameful, humiliating execution of crucifixion.

Because of this ultimate humility, and acceptance of the ultimate degradation and humiliation, Jesus was exalted.

Alleluia:
“We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your Cross you have redeemed the world.”

Gospel Reading:
John 3:13-17
Jesus compares himself to the bronze serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, from the first reading.

In the same way, Jesus will be “lifted up” (on the cross) and those who look at him, believing in redemption, will receive the redemption.

The purpose in the coming of Jesus Christ is not judgment, but salvation. Condemnation is not God’s intent — rescue and restoration are.

Like the bronze serpent, the cross transforms a symbol of death (serpent/cross) into a symbol of life and healing. Salvation comes from turning the pain and suffering into a deeper embodiment of love and compassion. Eternal spiritual life comes through releasing attachment to human understanding and in trusting God.

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This week, the Church celebrates the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

During the time Jesus walked the earth, crucifixion was one of the most painful, torturous, humiliating ways for a condemned criminal to be executed. When someone would see a cross, that is all they would think of: suffering and death.

The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross reminds us of the alchemy that happened when Jesus experienced the extreme torture and humiliation of the crucifixion, the leaden suffering and death of the flesh, which then ultimately led to the golden ascension of his soul. The transmutation of the phoenix rising from the ashes.

The cross no longer symbolizes just the condemnation and death of the flesh, but liberation and Life of the eternal soul.

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In the first reading, Moses is leading the Israelites through the wilderness. The journey was long and exhausting, and the people were getting tired, impatient, and losing their faith and trust in God and the process.

Remember, this story takes place after God had already redeemed the Israelites multiple times previously — from the Plagues of Egypt, the Passover, the Exodus out of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the sustenance from manna and water in the wilderness, etc.

With each redemption, the Israelites were humbled by the power of God, proclaiming their surrender to God’s plan. But these proclamations were superficial and temporary — not embodied with conviction.

When another hardship came along, they started repeating their unconscious patterns, walking without intention, in separation from God — leaning on their own limited human understanding and not on their trust in God.

To awaken the Israelites from these patterns, God intervened and sent poisonous snakes to bite the Israelites, leading to extreme illness and death.

Sometimes it does take some pretty intense stuff to get us to wake tf up. The hand of God can be heavy indeed.

God told Moses to create a bronze serpent and mount it on a pole, and anyone who had reconciled with God could look at the bronze serpent and be healed.

Before the healing happened, however, when the Israelites would see a serpent, they would have only thought of the suffering and death in the wilderness. But the bronze serpent became a powerful symbol of their spiritual awakening through darkness and hardships. They turned their eyes upward to God and experienced spiritual healing, redemption, liberation, and salvation.

Centuries later, the bronze serpent was even worshipped because people misunderstood its meaning. It wasn’t the bronze serpent itself that did the healing — it was God’s hand that worked through the symbol of the bronze serpent. The reminder of the pain and suffering that led to the redemption.

That is what Jesus meant in the Gospel reading when he likened himself to the bronze serpent in the wilderness. He displayed this when he willingly surrendered to his death by torture and crucifixion, showing us that even though he was the incarnate of Christ, he also understands the pains we experience in the flesh. He showed us that he gets it, because he experienced it too — to the extreme.

But he also showed that by surrendering to God and the death of the flesh — to the crucifixion of the ego — our soul will also be liberated and exalted, bringing us closer to Union with God.

Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, he turned the cross, a symbol of a torturous, humiliating death, into a symbol of Life.

Sometimes things in life can really suck, and we’re not always going to understand why things have to be the way they are. But during these times, we’re being invited to carry our own cross and turn our eyes upward to God — not turn away from God.

As we do this, we begin to alchemize our pain and suffering into a new Life, a Life aligned with our soul, rooted in Divine Love. And when we reflect back on these times of hardship, they will no longer be remembered with haste, but as a time when the cross we carried and were crucified upon became our Tree of Life.

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Songs:
“Pneuma” – Tool
We are spirit bound to this flesh
We go round one foot nailed down
But bound to reach out and beyond this flesh
Become Pneuma

We are will and wonder
Bound to recall, remember
We are born of one breath, one word
We are all one spark, sun becoming

Child, wake up
Child, release the light
Wake up now
Child, wake up
Child, release the light
Wake up now, child
Spirit
Bound to this flesh
This guise, this mask
This dream

Wake up remember
We are born of one breath, one word
We are all one spark, sun becoming

Pneuma
Reach out and beyond
Wake up remember
We are born of one breath, one word
We are all one spark, eyes full of wonder

“The Grudge” – Tool
Wear the grudge like a crown of negativity
Calculate what we will or will not tolerate
Desperate to control all and everything
Unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen

Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down
Justify denials and grip ’em to the lonesome end
Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down
Terrified of being wrong, ultimatum prison cell

Saturn ascends
Choose one or ten
Hang on or be humbled again
Humbled again

Wear the grudge like a crown
Desperate to control
Unable to forgive and sinking deeper

Defining
Confining
And sinking deeper
Controlling
Defining
And we’re sinking deeper

Saturn comes back around
Lifts you up like a child
or drags you down like a stone
To consume you till you choose to let this go
Choose to let this go

Give away the stone
Let the oceans take and trans mutate this cold and fated anchor
Give away the stone
Let the waters kiss and trans mutate these leaden grudges into gold

Let go

“Terrapin Station” – Grateful Dead
Which of you to gain me, tell, will risk uncertain pains of hell?
I will not forgive you if you will not take the chance

The sailor gave at least a try, the soldier being much too wise
Strategy was his strength, and not disaster

The sailor, coming out again, the lady fairly leapt at him
That’s how it stands today, you decide if he was wise

Hymns:
“On Eagle’s Wings”
You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord,
Who abide in His shadow for life,
Say to the Lord, “My Refuge,
My Rock in Whom I trust.” 

And He will raise you up on eagle’s wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

“Now We Remain”
We hold the death of the Lord deep in our hearts.
Living, now we remain with Jesus, the Christ.

Once we were people afraid, lost in the night.
Then by your cross we were saved.
Dead became living, life from your giving.

“Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” – Prayer of St. Francis
Make me a channel of your peace. 
Where there is hatred let me bring your love. 
Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord 
And where there’s doubt, true faith in you.

Make me a channel of your peace
Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope 
Where there is darkness, only light 
And where there’s sadness, ever joy.

Oh, Master grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console 
To be understood as to understand 
To be loved as to love with all my soul. 

Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned 
In giving to all men that we receive 
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

Oh, Master grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console 
To be understood as to understand 
To be loved as to love with all my soul. 

Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned 
In giving to all men that we receive 
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

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First Reading:
Numbers 21:4b-9
4b With their patience worn out by the journey, 5 the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!”

6 In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, 8 and the LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live.” 9 Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.


Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
R. (see 7b) Do not forget the works of the Lord!
1b Hearken, my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable,
I will utter mysteries from of old.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
34 While he slew them they sought him
and inquired after God again,
35 Remembering that God was their rock
and the Most High God, their redeemer.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
36 But they flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues,
37 Though their hearts were not steadfast toward him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
38 But he, being merciful, forgave their sin
and destroyed them not;
Often he turned back his anger
and let none of his wrath be roused.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!

Second Reading:
Philippians 2:6-11
6 Brothers and sisters:
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. 7 Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, 8 he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. 9 Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Alleluia:
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your Cross you have redeemed the world.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Reading:
John 3:13-17
13 Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

16 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. 17 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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