The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

09-14-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Albert

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross traces its origin to 4th Century. According to tradition, Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, journeyed to the Holy Land around 326 AD, where she discovered the True Cross, the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. To honor this discovery and mark the sacred sites of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, Constantine ordered the construction of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. The church was consecrated on September 13, 335 and the next day, September 14, the cross was publicly displayed for veneration. By the 7th Century, this became an annual celebration across Eastern and Western Churches.

The veneration of the Cross gained prominence after Constantine's conversion and the legalization of Christianity with the Edict of Milan in 313 AD. Christian symbols, especially the cross, could now be displayed without fear. Crucifixion was also abolished out of reverence for Christ. Once a tool of humiliation and death, the cross gradually became the universal symbol of Christian faith, a paradoxical sign of suffering and salvation. The readings of the feast focus not on crucifixion itself, but on being ' lifted up' pointing towards the Cross's transformative power and to the mystery of death and new life.

The dialogue in the Gospel of John between Jesus and Nicodemus used for this feast, centers around transformation and it is saturated with symbolic meaning. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and teacher of the Mosaic Law, comes to Jesus by night, a gesture reflecting both secrecy and the spiritual searching of one who is still in darkness. But Nicodemus is drawn towards the light he sees in this ' human one'. he is genuinely curious and cannot ignore 'the signs' that Jesus preforms; 'No one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.

This transformation, Jesus says, can only come through the Spirit, whose movements are as mysterious and free as the wind that blows where it will and certainly not under our control. How difficult would Jesus' words be for someone like Nicodemus whose whole purpose and security is based upon following and teaching the requirements of the Mosaic Law. The Son of Man must also be ''lifted up' so that all who believe in him may have eternal life. Here, the image of ''lifting up'' brings together death on the Cross with being raised and glorified. In John, the Cross is not only seen as a place of suffering and death but great emphasis is placed on its revelation of divine love and the gift of eternal life.

To gaze upon the Cross is to behold a God who suffers with us. it invites us to face our own suffering and sin - not with despair or denial, but with trust in a love that does not abandon us. The Cross does not erase suffering, nor does it offer easy explanation. Instead, it opens the heart to a transforming love that brings healing and hope. Only a God who has shared in our agony can be trusted with the depths of the human heart.

When the world appears forsaken, the message of the Cross endures; this is the world God so loves and does not condemn. The shadow of the Cross falls across all human suffering and loss, but it does so as an invitation to healing and restoration. Like Nicodemus, we are drawn beyond the limits of Law to the love that comes 'from above' made visible in the self giving tenderness of Jesus who is both crucified and exalted.