Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross . . . that is to say, we set aside this day as a time to exult, joyfully celebrate and rejoice in the triumph of the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ.
It can be said that there are three events or moments in history that this feast asks us to call to mind and reflect upon: three specific instances in which the Holy Cross is exalted. In order to better appreciate this great feast and what it means for our lives, I’d like to look at each of these three moments of the exultation in the Holy Cross.
The first exaltation of the Holy Cross is, of course, Good Friday – the day of the Lord’s Passion and Death.
Each and every year the Church commemorates the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday by bearing the cross aloft and proclaiming: “Behold the wood of the Cross on which is hung our salvation – Come let us adore.”
When one thinks about it, those are remarkable words and actions. We carry into our assembly an instrument of torture, shame and execution, and then we come forward one by one to venerate and adore it.
I think it’s fair to say, though, that we often miss the full force of this contradiction. It’s too easy, given the somber and solemn tone of the day, to narrow our focus and concentrate exclusively on the terrible death our Savior endured on the cross. We fail to fully comprehend the glory of the cross which leads us to raise it high and exult in it.
Throughout John’s Gospel Jesus makes it clear that His life is not taken from Him – he is not merely a victim nailed to the cross. Rather, He is in true control: He willingly lays down His own life for our sake.
And in the readings for today’s feast, Jesus’ words help explain why. Jesus once again predicts His own Passion and this time connects it with the healing serpent that Moses raised above the Israelites in the desert. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, and all who looked upon it lived – so too, Jesus, sent by the Father’s love for the world, is lifted up on the wood of the cross so that all who look upon Him might have eternal life.
The cross, therefore, is much more than a mere instrument of torture – it is a throne of glory that Jesus mounts triumphantly, and from which He saves and rules the world He created.
The cross is thus an everlasting sign of God’s love for the world and the “reconciliation and friendship into which we have entered with God;” It is the source of all power over sin and suffering and death; The cross is the sign and seal of the eternal life we are destined to inherit. (St. Symeon).
Every time we put a cross around our neck, or mark the sign of the cross on our bodies, we should be mindful not only of the amazing sacrifice our Lord made for us, but also of the unfathomable power that is contained in that sign and we should reverently celebrate the love and life we have been given through it.
The second exaltation of the Holy Cross that this feast celebrates is the finding of the true cross by St. Helena in the year 326. On a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, St. Helena discovered the relics of the true cross and her son, the Emperor Constantine, constructed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to house them.
These relics were temporarily lost when the Persians invaded Jerusalem in 614. But when the Emperor Heraclius recaptured the city and the relics, he had the cross carried in procession back to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Tradition tells us that as he marched behind it, the Emperor discovered that some unseen force kept him from moving any further.
The patriarch of Jerusalem “suggested to the emperor that the imperial splendor of his robes, gold and jewels were not in keeping with the humble and abject appearance of Christ when He” first carried the Cross through the very same streets of Jerusalem (Bl. Basil Moreau, CSC).
Sure enough, when the emperor removed his robes and jewels and found himself barefoot and wearing only a simple tunic, he was able to continue in the procession.
In today’s second reading St. Paul tells us that, “though He was in the form of God, Jesus did not regard equality with God something to be grasped, rather He emptied Himself taking the form of a slave . . . He humbled Himself becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
This second exaltation of the cross thus reminds us that we are to empty ourselves the same way Christ humbled Himself. If we want to be His disciples, we must heed Jesus’ own words, pick up our cross and follow after Him. Just as it was only by humbling Himself that Jesus accomplished the Father’s will and restored us to life, so too it is only when we humble ourselves, empty our egos, seek God’s will for our lives, only then do we come to the fullness of joy.
The third and final exaltation of the Holy Cross that this feast celebrates is the exaltation that will take place at the end of time. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus Himself speaks of the Last Judgment, saying:
“the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory”
(Mt. 24:29-30).
What else could the Sign of the Son of Man be other than the Sign of the Cross?
At the end of time the Cross will appear in the heavens not as a sign of combat and struggle or as an instrument of torture, but as the “victorious standard of a king, announcing His coming” and the triumph of His glorious reign (Bl. Basil Moreau, CSC).
Still, even then, the cross will remain a sign of contradiction – the cross will “herald the division between the good and the wicked, between Heaven and Hell.” Because this exaltation of the Holy Cross reminds us that the cross is the standard by which we will all be judged.
When we see even one of the least ones carrying a cross of suffering and pain; when we encounter the hungry and the poor, the sick and the elderly, the forgotten and the abused, how have we helped bear their burden and ease their sorrow? Whenever we have helped shoulder their cross, it is Christ we have served, and whenever we have ignored and spurned them, it is Christ Himself we have rejected.
It is only in serving one another and bearing each other’s burdens that we will hear the Master say, “Come you blessed by my Father, enter into the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.”
Today’s feast celebrates three particular and specific exaltations of the Holy Cross, but in so doing it encourages us to glory in the cross of Christ each and every day of our lives. It is only in the cross of Jesus Christ that we find the hope of forgiveness and of everlasting life. And so, until the Lord comes again, we joyfully proclaim: Behold the Cross, our only hope!
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