September 14: THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS. MASS PRAYERS AND READINGS.

September 14:
THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS.
MASS PRAYERS AND READINGS.

Our Mother the Church sings of the triumph of the Holy Cross, the instrument of our salvation. In order to follow Christ, the Christian must take up his cross and become obedient with Christ, who was obedient until death, even death on the Cross. The feast of the Exaltation of the Cross sprang at Rome at the end of the seventh century. The 3rd of May was called the feast of the Invention of the Cross, and it commemorated in a special manner Saint Helena’s discovery of the sacred wood of the Cross; the 14th of September, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, commemorated above all the circumstances in which Heraclius recovered from the Persians the True Cross, which they had carried off.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
Nos autem gloriári opórtet in cruce Dómini nostri Iesu Christi, in quo est salus, vita et resurréctio nostra, per quem salváti et liberáti sumus.
We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered.
[–» Greeting]
The Gloria in excelsis (Glory to God in the highest) is said.

COLLECT
O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son should undergo the Cross to save the human race, grant, we pray, that we who have known his mystery on earth may merit the grace of his redemption in heaven. Through our Lord.

 Proper Readings

READING I 
Nm 21:4b–9 
With their patience worn out by the journey, 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!” 
In punishment the Lord sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. 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, 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.” 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 
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Ne obliviscámini óperum Dómini.
Hearken, my people, to my teaching; 
incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 
I will open my mouth in a parable, 
I will utter mysteries from of old. 
R.
While he slew them they sought him 
and inquired after God again, 
Remembering that God was their rock 
and the Most High God, their redeemer. 
R.
But they flattered him with their mouths 
and lied to him with their tongues, 
Though their hearts were not steadfast toward him, 
nor were they faithful to his covenant. 
R.
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.
 
READING II 
Phil 2:6–11 
Brothers and sisters: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 
 
ALLELUIA 
Adorámus te Christe, et benedícimus tibi, quia per crucem tuam redemísti mundum.
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your cross you have redeemed the world.
 
GOSPEL 
Jn 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.

FOR TODAY’S FEAST REFLECTION, CLICK HERE AND HERE.

When this Feast falls on a Sunday, the Creed is said.

PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
May this oblation, O Lord, which on the altar of the Cross canceled the offense of the whole world, cleanse us, we pray, of all our sins. Through Christ our Lord.
[–» Eucharistic Prayer]

Preface of the Triumph of the Cross

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God.

For you placed the salvation of the human race in the wood of the Cross, so that where death arose life might again spring forth, and the evil one who conquered on a tree might likewise on a tree be conquered, through Christ our Lord. Through him the Angels’ praise your majesty, Dominions adore and Powers tremble before you. Heaven and the Virtues of heaven and the blessed Seraphim worship together with exultation. May our voices, we pray, join with theirs in humble praise as we acclaim:
[–» Holy, holy, holy…]

COMMUNION ANTIPHON
Ego si exaltátus fúero a terra, omnes traham ad meípsum, dicit Dóminus.
When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself, says the Lord.
[–» Communion]

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Having been nourished by your holy banquet, we beseech you, Lord Jesus Christ, to bring those you have redeemed by the wood of your life-giving Cross to the glory of the resurrection. Who live and reign for ever and ever.
[–» Concluding Rite]

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