The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross occurs on a Sunday this year. A Feast substitutes for a Sunday in Ordinary Time, so everyone will celebrate this event at weekend liturgies. Sr. Mary M. McGlone had this to say on the National Catholic Reporter website: The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross combines the paschal triduum and Christmas into one big feast. The scene depicted in Exodus demonstrates why humans need salvation. The hymn Paul wrote to the Philippians tells the story of salvation. Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus reveals the mystery of the human vocation.
The feast seems to have been celebrated in some form since the Seventh Century. It began as a commemoration of the discovery of the Cross of Christ by St. Helena in 320. The feast also remembers the dedication of the shrine built on Calvary by Constantine and, later in history, the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher constructed on the site of Jesus’ tomb.
The idea that Christians honor the cross with a word such as “exaltation” may startle people who are not of a Christian faith. We know from the writings of a pilgrim named Egeria in the Fourth Century that early Christians in Jerusalem venerated the wood of the true cross on Good Friday. We still include The Adoration of the Holy Cross in the Good Friday liturgy.
People don’t bestow this kind of honor on other means of torture and death, but Christians believe in the end of the story. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross does not end in suffering and ignominy. It ends in redemption and resurrection. On Good Friday, we sing: “Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the salvation of the world.” Our response is, “Come, let us adore.” The cross becomes a sign of God’s love. We bless ourselves with the Sign of the Cross on a daily basis.
Prepare for Mass by reflecting on the cross or on the Sign of the Cross.
- What does the cross mean to you? Think about this: It is an instrument of torture and death. How strange to use the cross as one of our central symbols; how strange to choose to put that cross on our churches, in our homes, in our classrooms, and in our hospitals. How strange to use that cross as jewelry, sometimes plain and sometimes fancy – sometimes encrusted with jewels.
- What do you think about when you sign yourself with the cross?
Reflection questions from page 38 of Participation of the Heart: Deeper Engagement in the Mass.
