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Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Background Information about the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Readings for Thursday

Reading 1 Nm 21:4b-9

Responsorial PsalmPs 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!

Reading II Phil 2:6-11

Gospel Jn 3:13-17

Reflection:

The celebration today focuses on the recovery by the Church of relics of the True Cross. Historically, this feast was celebrated in Rome before the end of the 7th century to commemorate the recovery of that portion of the Holy Cross, which was preserved at Jerusalem, and which had fallen into the hands of the Persians. Emperor Heraclius recovered this precious relic and brought it back to Jerusalem, 3 May 629.

Let’s take a moment and look at the wonderful metaphor set up for us today as we think about the Cross, how the Lord took that Roman symbol of humiliation and transformed it into our symbol of victory.

In Numbers we hear how, because of the grumbling of the Hebrews, the Father sent them saraph serpents, venomous snakes that caused a number of deaths among the wandering group. We hear how Moses prayed to God and how the Lord told him to make a saraph and place it on a staff, lifting it up high so it could be seen from a distance. He told the people that the Father had told him, anyone who was bitten and looked at that symbol would not die.

Then comes that amazing testimony from the Gospel of St. John;

“No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal
life.”

The linkage is plain, the metaphor complete. Whoever is poisoned by sin need only lift up their hearts and eyes to Jesus who is hung upon the Cross and they will be saved.

That does not mean for us that once we have gazed upon that enigmatic symbol once meant to be the ultimate humiliation and excruciating death, now turned to the great hope for eternal life, that we are saved even if we turn away. Our eyes must remain firmly fixed upon the Cross and what it stands for.

The Glorious news for us today is that that path to salvation is open to us. The Cross itself tells us that that path will not be easy. The Cross remains a symbol of hope, it is also a reminder that Jesus has told us that if we wish to follow him, we must take up our own cross and all that implies to follow his steps, stumbling and falling, enduring the sufferings of this life’s journey, until at last we can rest with him.

Pax