Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross
Readings:
Numbers 21:4b-9
Philippians 2:6-11
John 3:13-17
Reflection:
Today’s feast goes back to the 4th Century. It commemorates three events; the discovery of the cross on which Jesus died (326AD), its first exaltation for public veneration (335AD) and its recovery from the Persians (628AD).
While the focus is on the Cross itself (rather than Jesus’ passion), the feast still serves to point us towards the unbounded and unmerited love of Christ for each of us.
As the French Jesuit theologian, Denis Pétau (1583 – 1652) wrote, “the honour paid to the image passes to the prototype; and whoever adores the image, adores the person whom it represents.”
The cross highlights one of the great paradoxes of our faith: a brutal instrument of torture and execution designed to ensure a lingering, excruciating death is re-framed as a symbol of divine love and human hope for eternal life.
It’s a paradox that goes to the heart of the Passionist Charism.
The power of the crucifixion was such that even the Christian iconoclasts (who zealously resisted depictions of God or Christ in images or carvings) made an exception for the cross.
In addition to reflecting on today’s readings, I offer two other prayer suggestions:
(1) Spend some time gazing upon a cross. Recall how deeply you are loved by God and be inspired to emulate the unmerited love Christ showed. Recall the hope-filled future that awaits us after death, a reality our deceased loved ones already participate in.
(2) Recall Cardinal John Henry’s Newman’s poem, “The Sign of the Cross”:
“Whene’er across this flesh of mine
I draw the Holy Sign,
All good thoughts stir within me, and renew
Their slumbering strength divine;
Till there springs up a courage high and true
To suffer and to do.”
John Kleinsman lives in Wellington. He is married to Kerry and works in the field of bioethics. His involvement with the Passionists goes back to 1992, nurtured through an ongoing involvement with Passionist Family Groups in New Zealand. He is a lay member of the Passionist Formation Commission.