The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

14th September  335-2025 AD

The discovery of the True Cross is dated to 14 Sept, AD 320.
On 13 Sept 335 the churches on Calvary that St Helena were discovered and were
venerated the next day. Ever since the annual commemoration of that event  has been celebrated  in praise of  the Redemption won for us by Jesus

Patrick Duffy, former Biblical lecturer in Nigeria and CI staff, writes about the background to this feast.
Within the Cross is the sign of our Redemption is contained the pledge of Resurrection and the beginning of new life for us.

In his homily on this feast at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 14 September 1984 Pope St John Paul II said: “The Catholic Church celebrates today the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of Christ.
Thus the crucified Christ is lifted up by faith in the hearts of all who believe, and he too lifts up those same hearts with a hope that their new life can never be destroyed.”

Looking back: St Helena
St Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, is credited with the discovery of the true cross on 14th September 320 ad. On 13 September 335 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, was dedicated and the cross that St Helena discovered was venerated there the next day.

A woman pilgrim on Good Friday in Jerusalem
We know how the cross was honoured in Jerusalem from the description of Egeria’s, a woman pilgrim to the Holy Land about 381–384. Egeria,(who was possibly a nun from Galicia in Spain,) describing the liturgy of the veneration of the cross as she experienced it on Good Friday in Jerusalem at that time.
“The bishop takes his seat. A table covered with a linen cloth is placed before him; a silver-gilt casket, which contains the holy wood of the Cross, is set before him, opened.

The holy wood and the inscription are taken out and placed on the table.

The deacons who stand around it guard it while all the people, both faithful and catechumens, come one by one, bow before the table, touch the cross and the inscription, first with their foreheads, then with their eyes; and, after kissing the cross, they move on. (Because someone is said to have broken off and stolen a portion of the sacred wood, it is thus guarded by the deacons standing around, in case any one approaching should venture to do so again.”) To some people, nothing is sacred.)

Stolen and restored
In 614, that relic of the cross was carried away from the church by the Persian King Chosroes II (588-628), but was recaptured by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in 628 and restored to the church in Jerusalem the following year to much joy, tears and celebration.

Exaltation or Triumph

Catholic and Orthodox Churches alike celebrate this feast of the basilica’s dedication, formerly called the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, on the anniversary. The cross is the paradoxical and central symbol of Christianity.

It was the instrument of the humiliating death of Jesus, but also his resurrection, the cross became for Christians a source of pride and hope.
Hence the use of the word “Triumph” or  “Exaltation”, still used by the Orthodox Church.
(As a feast of Christ, when it falls on Sunday, as it does today it replaces the regular liturgy readings. )

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Fr Martin Hogan comments on today’s Gospel passage of John 3:13-17

Today’s feast of the exaltation or triumph of the Holy Cross is not like Good Friday. Our focus is not so much on the sufferings of Jesus. Rather, we celebrate what the gospel reading refers to as the lifting up of the Son of Man. The term ‘lifting up’ suggests not just his being lifted up physically on the cross but also his being lifted up in glory.
There are some depictions of the cross which highlight this double sense of Jesus being lifted up, where the body of Jesus on the cross is almost glorified. You may be familiar with the cross of San Damiano in Assisi. When St Francis was praying before it, he heard the Lord call on him to rebuild the church. The image of Jesus that is painted on that cross has a glorious, luminous, quality. It is this kind of depiction of the cross that reflects the meaning of today’s feast, which is the feast of the triumph or exaltation of the cross.

The crucifixion of Jesus : a triumph?
It was firstly the triumph of love over hatred,
the triumph of God’s love over human sin.
All authentic love is life-giving and God’s love is supremely life-giving.

That is why the crucifixion of Jesus was a triumph in another sense:
the triumph of life over death,
of God’s life over human death, a triumph in which we can all share.
That verse in today’s gospel reading which has spoken to believers down the centuries really sums up the meaning of today’s feast,
‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him’.

Today we are invited to look upon the cross as:
the ‘explosion of God’s life-giving love for us all’
and then to allow ourselves to be drawn into that love so that we can reflect it to others in our care for them.
This year,  AD 2025,  seems to be a particularly violent year across the world.
Today, Jesus is calling to us all to be peacemakers in  our care for our families, parish communities, local, national and international fellow citizens on this planet loaned to us by God for the time being.

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Memorable wisdom for Today

“When Jesus hung on the cross,
a great unseen cosmic battle raged in the heavens—
and in the end, Christ triumphed over all the forces
of Evil and Death and Hell.”

~Billy Graham, evangelist ~

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Suggested Prayer for Today

In these days of uncertainty and fear,
we pray that each of us might again turn to the Lord in prayer
and receive God’s gift of peace,
work for God’s justice,
know God’s reconciliation and love,
and choose paths not of hatred or destruction, of violence or retribution,
but God’s way of justice, reconciliation mercy and peace.