JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS
WE ADORE YOU O CHRIST, AND WE BLESS YOU
BECAUSE BY YOUR HOLY CROSS YOU HAVE REDEEMED THE WORLD!
BACKGROUND
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is celebrated every year on September 14. This feast recalls two historical events: the finding of the True Cross by Saint Helena, mother of 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. 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.
REFLECTION
The cross reminds us of many things: atonement, forgiveness, love, mercy, redemption, salvation, and hope. This instrument of torture, designed to disgrace and dismiss the worst of criminals, became the life-giving tree that reversed Adam’s Original Sin when he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. God loves us even to death on the cross. LOVE is what the crucifixion is all about,
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 in heaven.
At Mass, the same sacrifice offered on Calvary is offered in an “unbloody manner.” We offer ourselves with the priest to the Father in sacrificial atonement for our sins. 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 that we might truly rise with Him. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23).
God did not spare His own Son from suffering. God takes upon Himself all the hate, bitterness, resentment, violence, and sins of this world. God has promised in the end, there will be redemption, vindication, immunity from suffering, and eternal life.
Suffering in this world is inevitable. God did not promise us a “rose garden” without thorns. But He did promise to nurture, feed, and prune that rose garden as He brings it to the fullness of glory in heaven.
At Jesus’ death, the Temple veil before the “holy of holies” was split in two from top to bottom revealing the inner heart of God. There is no longer a veil between us and God’s heart. The cross of Jesus fully reveals what God looks like!
The cross of Jesus doesn’t just reveal God’s unconditional love for us; but also reveals that vulnerability is the path to intimacy with God.
God is not about condemnation and crushing every evil by force. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn* the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:17 God is like a gentle mother coaxing her child to take that next step in learning to walk.
J
ESUS CHRIST SAVIOR OF THE WORLD
O HAPPY FAULT THAT EARNED FOR US SO GREAT, SO GLORIOUS A REDEEMER!
SAINT AMBROSE
EASTER VIGIL PROCLAMATION