Today’s Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, formerly known as the Triumph of the Cross, is our parish “patronal feast.”
The word “Exaltation” means “lifting up.” In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus says that He, being “lifted up,” will draw all people to Himself. This “lifting up” refers not only to Jesus being physically raised on the Cross. It also includes these features: Jesus while on the Cross died and passed to new life (the Resurrection); He then returned to the Father (the Ascension); and He breathed forth the Spirit (the event of Pentecost). All of this, this whole movement which encompasses His being “lifted up” in every way, is what we call the Paschal Mystery.
Food for Thought: Jesus was and is the Incarnate Son of God. He shares on an equal level and eternally in the divinity of His Father and the Holy Spirit. Yet, in order to bring us salvation and life without end, as the Scriptures tell us, He “emptied” Himself and took the form of a slave, totally in service to us. He adopted our human condition totally and He even went lower than this by submitting to one of the most terrible forms of death, death by crucifixion. And all of this was to help us understand the extent of His Father’s love for each one of us.
Because of His self-giving and self-emptying, the Father raised Him up, “exalted” Him, so that the name of Jesus is now above every other name, and before which every knee should bend in deep adoration and confess Jesus as Lord. Hence, the Cross is a much esteemed symbol for Christians everywhere and a way by which we express our faith.
We place a Cross in our churches and homes, in the classrooms of our schools, and in other Christian institutions. Many wear a Cross as part of their dress. But we must never take this symbol for granted, nor let it become something ordinary or “just another symbol.” By dying, Jesus destroyed our death. By rising, He restored our life. There is nothing ordinary about His self-emptying act of supreme love. Happy Feastday!
