The Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost. The Sunday Before the Exaltation of the Cross (Gal. 6:11–18; Jn. 3:13–17)

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life[1]” (Jn. 3:14–15). Faith in the Son of God, who became flesh and was crucified for us—this is the power of God for salvation, the living source of life-giving moral strivings and dispositions, and the vessel of the abundant grace of the Holy Spirit, which dwells always in the heart and sends down hidden inspirations from on high in due season, in the hour of need. Faith encompasses the convictions that draw God’s good pleasure and heavenly power. Together, these constitute the possession of eternal life. As long as this life is kept intact, the Christian does not fall; for ”he who clings to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord” (1 Cor. 6:17), and nothing can overcome the Lord. Why then do people fall? Through the weakening of faith. As Christian convictions weaken, so does moral energy. In proportion to this weakening, grace is driven from the heart, and wicked cravings raise their heads. In a moment of opportunity, a person yields to these latter—and there is the fall. Be watchful and a guardian of faith in its full measure, and you will not fall. It is in this sense that St. John says, ”whoever is born of God does not sin” (1 Jn. 3:9).