CHRIST VICTORIOUS
WE ADORE YOU O CHRIST, AND WE BLESS YOU
BECAUSE BY YOUR HOLY CROSS YOU HAVE REDEEMED THE WORLD!
EXHALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS SEPTEMBER 14
BACKGROUND
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Triumph of the Cross), is celebrated every year on September 14 and recalls two historical events: the finding of the True Cross by Saint Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, and the dedication of churches built by Constantine (335) on the site of the Holy Sepulcher and Mount Calvary.
After the death and resurrection of Christ, both the Jewish and Roman authorities in Jerusalem made efforts to obscure the Holy Sepulcher, Christ’s tomb, in a garden near the site of His crucifixion. The earth was mounded up over the site, and pagan temples were built on top of it.
According to tradition, Saint Helena, Mother of Emperor, Constantine, nearing the end of her life, decided under divine inspiration to travel to Jerusalem in 326 to excavate the Holy Sepulcher in an attempt to locate the True Cross.
In celebration of the discovery of the Holy Cross, Constantine ordered the construction of churches at the site of the Holy Sepulcher and on Mount Calvary. Those churches were dedicated on September 13 and 14, 335, and shortly thereafter the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross began to be celebrated on September 14.
TAKE UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME
MATTHEW 16:24
COMMENTARY.
St. Paul says in First Corinthians “WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED” 1 Corinthians 1;23.
I used to have a problem when gazing upon the cross because like so many, all I saw was suffering and death. Then my perspective changed The Cross is a sign of contradiction. I saw the love of Christ with His open arms embracing the whole world.
For just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19
The cross designed as an instrument of torture, designed to disgrace and dismiss the worst of criminals, became the life-giving tree that reversed Adam’s Original Sin. Genesis 3:6 The Cross is not a symbol, principally, of agonizing suffering, but of the mind-blowing love God has for us.
The cross reminds us of many things: atonement, forgiveness, love, mercy, redemption, and salvation. Christians display the cross in their homes. They wear it on their person. They make the sign of the cross before prayer and on entering Church with the waters of Baptism.
With the sign of the cross we remind ourselves and witness to others that we have set ourselves apart from worldly rule and pledge our very selves to God’s reign, the kingdom in heaven.
God will not abandon us nor did He abandon His Son on the cross. With the words, “It is finished,” John 19:30 Jesus acknowledged that He has remained faithful to the Father’s will and trusts that all will be well.
On Easter, Jesus is raised in glory and sits today and forever at right hand of the Father in heaven, preparing a place for us.
REFLECTION
Christianity without the Cross is meaningless. Only by uniting ourselves to Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross can we enter into eternal life. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” Luke 9:23
When we participate in the Mass, the Cross is there, too. The “un-bloody sacrifice” offered on the altar is the re-presentation of Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross.
When we receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion we do not simply unite ourselves to Christ; we nail ourselves to the Cross, dying with Christ so we might rise with Him in glory.
“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” John 20:19
When we can no longer help ourselves because we have become paralyzed with fear and overcome by darkness, Trust in Jesus!
When we have reached that stage in our life where we can no longer open the door to let light and life in, God can still come through our locked doors to heal our paralysis, and breathe peace among us.
Let us join the prophet Isaiah 53:5 in proclaiming that Jesus, our Savior and Lord, “was pierced for our offences, crushed for our sins; and upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole. By his stripes we were healed”
O HAPPY FAULT THAT EARNED FOR US SO GREAT,
SO GLORIOUS A REDEEMER!
PRAYER TO JESUS CHRIST CRUCIFIED.
My good and dear Jesus, I kneel before you, asking you with great fervor, to instill in me true sorrow and repentance for my sins and a firm resolve to amend my life while contemplating your five wounds, remembering the words of the Psalmist, “They have pierced my hands and my feet, I can count all my bones.”Psalm 22:17-18
My husband and I cherish that we were married on this date.