September 14, 2025

Sept 14: Exaltation of the Holy Cross  

Looking Upon the Cross

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

 
Today’s feast has been celebrated since the 4^th century to recall the discovery of the True Cross by St. Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, and the dedication of two basilicae Constantine had built in Jerusalem—one on Calvary and the other at the Lord’s Sepulcher.
 
But the word “exaltation” next to the word cross is strange. One might mistakenly think that the exaltation of the cross is the exaltation of suffering. But the truth is otherwise. Today we do not exalt the cruelty of the Cross because we are not celebrating just any cross, but the cross of Christ who transformed its very meaning. 
 
What do you see when you look upon the cross? It is easy to see in it a curse, a humiliation, and defeat. But today’s feast bids us to look deeper to see something more, something beyond its cruelty and pain.
 
Today’s feast invites us to see it as the preeminent sign of God’s infinite, unconditional love for us. When we have those moments when we want to be reassured of God’s love for us, we need only to gaze upon the cross to see the figure of the Lord with his arms outstretched and his eyes raised to his Father in heaven. He reveals how precious each one of us is to the Father. 
 
How many people, burdened by the guilt of past transgressions, ashamed of their sin, the pain of bad decisions, the hurts they have caused others, have to be assured and reassured of God’s love and that he offers them a new beginning. From the cross Jesus says to us: “I will love you with an everlasting love. I will be faithful to you, even when you run away from me, reject me, or betray me.”
 
When we look more deeply at the cross, we can see something else. We can rejoice seeing the cross as the instrument of our redemption, our salvation. The Lord’s mission was not to condemn the world but to save it. 
 
It was through the cross that Jesus accomplished what no man could—restoring the broken relationship, the chasm, which was created between God and humanity caused by sin. It was a chasm that could only be bridged by the Son of God. The animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant were not adequate. Our Lord became the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice who took upon himself all the disorder, ugliness, and death that sin had brought into the world. We might say that through the cross, Our Lord lifted the black cloud that existed between God and mankind. As a result we are forgiven and given the hope of eternal life. 
 
To claim that we are redeemed is to say that we are not estranged from God but made God’s beloved. Our Lord accomplished the great work of redemption but we must cooperate with him, living as his beloved, to be persevering in our efforts to remain in friendship with God, to remain in the state of grace. A prayer: