To read the texts click on the texts: Num 21:4-9;Phil 2:6-11; Jn 3:13-17
The
Exaltation of the Cross is one of the twelve great feasts in the yearly Church
cycle. Because the cross is at the heart and centre of all that we as
Christians believe, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the
Cross, the triumph of the cross of Christ over the power of sin and death. And
so this feast provides us with another opportunity to reflect on the central
mystery of our faith: that the one who was lifted up on the cross in
crucifixion has triumphed over the power of sin and death because God highly
exalted him.
This
feast commemorates two historical events: first, the finding of what was
considered the Cross of Christ in the year 326 by the mother of Constantine the
Great, St Helen, and second its recovery from Persia in 628.
A
story is told of Emperor Heraclius who in the year 628 after making peace with
the Persians carried what was considered the Cross on which Jesus hung back to
Jerusalem on his shoulders. He was clothed with costly garments and with
ornaments of precious stones. But at the entrance to Mt. Calvary a strange
incident occurred. Try as hard as he would, he could not go forward. Zacharias,
the Bishop of Jerusalem, then said to the astonished monarch: "Consider, O
Emperor, that with these triumphal ornaments you are far from resembling Jesus
carrying His Cross." The Emperor then put on a penitential garb and
continued the journey and carried the Cross into the Church of Holy Wisdom
where it was triumphantly exalted. It was then resolved that the Fest of the Triumph
or Exaltation of the Cross be celebrated by the Church in all parts of the
world.
The
Cross -- because of what it represents -- is the most potent and universal
symbol of the Christian faith. It is a constant reminder -- and witness -- of
Christ's ultimate triumph, His victory over sin and death through His suffering
and dying on the Cross. The cross, once a tool of death, has become a means to
life, an instrument of our salvation; it gives strength to resist temptation,
it gives hope to seek new life and it dispels fear and darkness.
As
Christians, we exalt the Cross of Christ as the instrument of our salvation.
Adoration of the Cross is, thus, adoration of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who
became Man, who suffered and died on the Cross for our redemption from sin and
death. The cross represents the One Sacrifice by which Jesus, obedient even
unto death, accomplished our salvation. The cross is a symbolic summary of the
Passion, Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection of Christ.
In
the first reading of today we read of how Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in
order to heal and bring wholeness to a broken people. This was God’s way of
showing the people that He was primarily a God who wanted to save and redeem
and not condemn and destroy. The Church and especially the evangelist John
interpreted this lifting of the bronze serpent by Moses as a foreshadowing of
the salvation through Jesus when He was lifted up on the Cross. The Triumph of
the Cross is the Triumph of Jesus Christ whose love for us and obedience to his
Father climaxed with his death on the cross. The deeper meaning of the Cross is
presented in The Christological hymn in today's second reading from the Letter
of Paul to the Philippians. Jesus emptied himself completely, not just becoming
a human being but accepting the worst public death of the society he lived in
to demonstrate the extent of the love of God for us. He died making a willing
statement of love, filling the world with the love he had for his Father and
his Father had for him. We are saved from the horrors of evil, from meaningless
lives due to the love of the Lord. Because Jesus died on a cross for us we are
able to proclaim to the world: Jesus is Lord. His love made this possible. When
we venerate and adore the cross we are saying: Jesus is Lord of our lives.
To
the world this act of surrender on the cross was an act of utter humiliation
and subjugation and the height of folly. To the world this death on the cross
was a wasted life. To the world this death on the cross was a sign of utter
defeat. But what the world calls wisdom, God calls foolishness, and what the
world calls strength God call weakness. Therefore God highly exalted the
crucified one by raising him from the dead. God gave Jesus his own name so that
every creature on earth must now call Jesus “Lord.” What human beings did, God
contradicted. And so in the weakness and foolishness of the cross we see the
wisdom and power of God: Christ crucified. In him and his cross, surrender
becomes power, waste becomes gain and death and defeat become victory and new
life.
The
cross is at the centre of our lives every time we face sickness and death. The
cross is at the centre of our lives in frailty and old age. The cross is at the
centre of our lives every time we feel utterly alone and abandoned. The Cross
is at the centre of our lives every time we are tempted to give in and give up.
It is at the centre of our lives every time we are tempted to throw our hands
up in despair. It keeps reminding us that only when we embrace the cross in the
midst of suffering and abandonment can we understand the power of the
resurrection. Only when we have the courage to keep on keeping on can we like
Christ become victorious and conquer. Only when we embrace the cross is it
possible for God to raise us up and give us new life.
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