The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a day that invites us to gaze upon the Cross not as a symbol of defeat, but as the very throne of victory, the instrument of our salvation, and the deepest revelation of God’s love for us.
In our first reading from the book of Numbers, it states that through Israel’s disobedience, God sent poisonous snakes as a judgement against the Israelites. The Israelites failed to understand the deeper meaning of their sins, and their unwillingness to trust in God.
God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. Whoever is bitten shall look at the ‘bronze serpent’ and live. This shows confession being both a community and an individual responsibility, the raising of the bronze serpent reminded the people of the need to turn and repent to God for his healing power and forgiveness.
In our Gospel we read “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.” This is the first of three occasions in the Gospels where Jesus refers to his death on the cross as being ‘lifted up’.
The verb ‘lifted up’ has a twofold meaning. It can mean being physically ‘lifted up’ from the ground. Or being ‘lifted up’ in the sense of being exalted.
For Jesus both these meanings are valid. Jesus was ‘lifted up’ from the ground on the cross because His hour had come.
And He was also ‘lifted up’ to be Exultated and Glorified, showing God’s love to the world.
The book of Numbers reminds us that healing comes through looking upon the source of salvation. In the desert, the Israelites were healed by gazing upon the bronze serpent; now after the Passion, we are healed by gazing upon Jesus Christ himself, being lifted high and Glorified for all the world to see.
The Cross shows us a God who enters into our pain, who does not shy away from the brokenness of the world, but embraces it fully. Jesus did not merely teach love, He lived it to the end, stretching out His arms in a total self-gift.
We exalt the Cross today, not because we glorify in suffering, no, but because we see in it, the depth of divine love. The Cross is not just a historical event, it is a living reality. Every time we suffer, every time we carry burdens, we are invited to unite ourselves with Christ crucified, knowing that He is always walking by our side.
As we know, the act of crucifixion was recognised as the lowest point of humiliation given to criminals by the Roman empire. This humiliation of the cross was undone by His ‘Own Divine Majesty.’ It was Jesus’ finest ‘hour’, conquering death forever, saving his people from their sins, and opening up for us the gates of Heaven.
The Cross is not the end, far from it, it is the beginning of the birth of the Church, where the grace of the Sacraments flow in abundance, from the pierced side of Jesus’ heart, that gives us eternal life. The Cross is the place where mercy and justice meet, where sin is conquered, and where death is defeated.
So, as we celebrate this feast day, let us renew our devotion to the Cross. When we make the sign of the Cross do it with reverence, wear it with pride around our necks, and live it with courage.
Never forget that in every Mass, we are brought to the foot of the Cross, where heaven and earth touch, during the Eucharistic prayer. We see the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ being raised high above the altar. We are looking at Jesus at Golgotha being Exalted & Glorified, during his ‘finest hour,’ his only Sacrifice, to save the world from all sin and evil, in order that we may enter paradise with Him, for all eternity.
Rev. Fr Philip Wrigley's Blog 