✝️The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross commemorates the event of 628, when Emperor Heraclius recovered the relic of the True Cross from the Persians and triumphantly restored it to Jerusalem. This day is an adoration of the sacred wood, not as a symbol of torture, but as the throne of Christ's glory and the instrument of our salvation. It is the paradox of the suffering servant who becomes the victorious King. Kneeling before the Crucifix, especially at the hour of Consecration, the soul can unite with this mystery through the prayer of St. Nicholas of Flüe, pleading: "My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from You. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to You. My Lord and my God, take me from myself to give me wholly to You."
🙏 Introit (Gal 6:14 | Ps 66:2)Nos autem gloriári opórtet in Cruce Dómini nostri Iesu Christi... But it behooves us to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; in Him is our salvation, life, and resurrection. By Him we were saved and set free. Ps. May God have mercy on us and bless us; may He cause His face to shine upon us, and may He have mercy on us. ℣. Glory be to the Father...
📖 Epistle (Phil 2:5-11)
Brethren: Have this mind among yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a Cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name (here all kneel), so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
🕯️ Gospel (Jn 12:31-36)
At that time, Jesus said to the crowds of the Jews: "Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (He said this to show by what kind of death he was to die). The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" Jesus said to them, "The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."
🤔 Reflections
📜The Epistle reveals the downward movement of Christ's humiliation, who empties Himself of His divine glory to assume our humanity, culminating in obedience unto the death of the Cross. The Gospel, in turn, shows the upward movement: it is precisely by being "lifted up" on this Cross that He is exalted and draws all things to Himself. Christ was exalted by God because He humbled Himself; and He drew all things to Himself because He was lifted up. Thus, the wood of the Cross is the point where the deepest humiliation meets the most sublime exaltation. (St. Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, 52). The Cross was not an accidental end, but the summit of obedience, through which the Name of Jesus was placed above every name; this obedience undid the disobedience of Adam, and the wood of the Cross repaired the damage caused by the wood of the tree in Eden. (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V).
🗺️The Gospel of St. John presents the lifting up on the Cross with a connotation of glory and victory ("when I am lifted up... I will draw all men to myself"), focusing on the theological significance of the act. The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), when narrating the predictions of the Passion, emphasize more the details of suffering, rejection, and betrayal (Mt 16:21), describing that the Son of Man "must suffer many things." St. Luke, at the Transfiguration, adds a unique perspective, stating that Moses and Elijah spoke of the "exodus" that Jesus would accomplish in Jerusalem (Lk 9:31), framing His death as a liberating and Paschal event, not just as a sacrifice.
✉️Beyond the profound theology of kenosis (emptying) in the Epistle to the Philippians, St. Paul develops other crucial aspects of the Cross. In 1 Corinthians 1:18, he calls it a "stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles," but "the power of God to those who are being saved," contrasting divine wisdom with the logic of the world. In Colossians 1:20, the Cross is the instrument of cosmic reconciliation, through which God made peace for "all things, whether on earth or in heaven." In Galatians 6:14, echoing the Introit, St. Paul declares that his only reason for glory is the Cross, by which "the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world," indicating a mystical death to sin and a new life in Christ.
🏛️The official documents of the Church deepen the mystery of the Cross, establishing it as the center of doctrine. The Council of Trent defines that the Sacrifice of the Mass is the unbloody re-presentation and the application of the fruits of the one bloody sacrifice of Calvary (Session 22). In the encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor, Pope Pius XI teaches that reparation for the offenses committed against God is a demand of justice and love, which finds its perfect model in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. The encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi by Pope Pius XII explains that it was on the Cross that Christ acquired His Church and that the fount of all sacramental grace, which vivifies the Mystical Body, flows from His pierced side on the wood.
🧐See English version of the critical articles here.