Sunday Meditation: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Whenever September 14^th falls on a Sunday, it becomes the feast day of the Exultation of the Cross while still keeping count of the ordinal number counting.  It is still the 24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time but superseded by the feast day.  If you were not aware “Ordinary Time” does not mean it’s ordinary but that it is counted by ordinal numbers.  A proper definition of “exalt” is in order.  From Meriam-Websters:

 

Exalt

(transitive verb)

1: to raise in rank, power, or character

2: to elevate by praise or in estimation : glorify

3: obsolete : elate

4: to raise high : elevate

5: to enhance the activity of : intensify

 

I think we mean all five of those definitions by exalt, but perhaps “glorify” says it all.

 

With the Feast Day, we take a break from Gospel of Luke and turn to a well-known passage in John.

 

 

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

"No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.

And 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."

 

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

~Jn 3:13-17

 

Fr. Geoffrey Plant gives a detailed explanation of why the holiday and how it was established.

What was a symbol of terror was transformed into a symbol of love.

The pastoral homily is by someone I have not posted before, Fr. Mark Mary of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.  

We exalt the cross because it is the instrument of Jesus’s victory over death.

 

Sunday Meditation: “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."

 

For the hymn, let’s go with Dan Schutte’s “Glory of the Cross.”

 

 

Let us ever glory in the cross of Christ,

our salvation and our hope.

Let us bow in homage to the Lord of Life,

who was broken to make us whole.

There is no greater love, as blessed as this:

to lay down one’s life for a friend.

Let us ever glory in the cross of Christ

and the triumph of God’s great love.

 

 

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You, because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.