Exaltation of The Holy Cross
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross commemorates three historical events: the discovery of the True Cross in 326, its initial exaltation for public veneration in 335, and the recovery of the Cross from the Persians in 628.
The Holy Cross on which Our Savior died has become over the centuries the most recognizable symbol of Christianity. When Jesus was nailed to his cross it was perhaps the most shameful of deaths in the Roman Empire. It became the final indignity visited upon those who were condemned to death. What was the most dreaded symbol of death and failure on the part of those who died on one, the holy cross has become for us a sign of profound hope for our very salvation is tied to it.
Jesus, in being crucified, triumphed. It was a triumph of love over hatred. Unlike Moses' deliverance in the desert which only resulted in temporary relief for the people, Jesus' atoning death on the cross brought decisive victory over sin, Satan, and death. Jesus' victory on the cross cancels the debt of our sin and releases us from guilt and condemnation. His death and victory bring us new life - the new abundant life in his Holy Spirit which lasts forever.
As John the evangelist says in today’s gospel, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.’ Jesus revealed God’s love in all that he said and did, but he revealed God’s love most fully on the cross. John the evangelist would say that on the cross Jesus revealed God’s glory. That is why in John’s gospel Jesus speaks of his coming crucifixion as the hour when he is glorified. Authentic love is always life-giving and that is uniquely so of God’s love. As well as being the triumph of love over hatred, the cross of Jesus is the triumph of life over death. Jesus was put to death in a most cruel way but through his death he passed over into a new life and that life was offered to us all. The blood and water flowing from the side of Jesus in John’s gospel speaks to us of the life that flows through the death of Jesus. The cross has been celebrated in art as the tree of life. The triumph of the cross, which is the triumph of God and of Jesus over Satan and all the forces of evil and death, is a triumph in which we all share. From the cross Jesus draws all of us into the love and life of God. As he says in John’s gospel, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. We simply must let ourselves be drawn by him.
And so, this feast celebrates the reality that what was once a symbol of shame has been turned to glory and honor because as the Church teaches, “The Exaltation of the Cross consists in the fact that ‘the event of the cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life’” [CCC 1085]. St. Andrew of Crete tells us that:
Had there been no cross, Christ could not have been crucified. Had there been no cross, life itself could not have been nailed to the tree. And if life had not been nailed to it, there would be no streams of immortality pouring from Christ’s side, blood, and water for the world’s cleansing. The legal bond of our sin would not be canceled, we should not have obtained our freedom, and the gates of paradise would not stand open. Had there been no cross, death would not have been trodden underfoot, nor hell despoiled [Oratio 10 in Exaltatione sanctae crucis].
This feast day teaches us that the cross is glorious because its stands for Christ’s victory over death, the wounding of Satan and the smashing of the gates of hell. In the cross now stands our freedom to live in Christ. It is also a feast by which we must humbly understand that God can “exalt” every cross we endure in life and bring forth much grace through them. So often we desire to get rid of the cross we endure. But the cross we carry has the potential of being the source of grace in our lives. This is possible when you embrace your cross and allow Christ to unite it with his cross. Then your crosses can share in the exaltation of the Cross of Christ. May we always listen to the words of St. Paul and make them our own: “May I never boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! Through it, the world has been crucified to me and I to the world [Gal 6: 14].