Why does the Catholic Church exalt the Holy Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified? To the ancient Romans, the cross was the ultimate symbol of Roman power’s cruelty, reserved for the lowest criminals, rebels, and slaves. It was a sign of ultimate defeat. So why on earth do we exalt it? Why do we venerate it? Why do we call Good Friday good?
The answer is because God, in His infinite and mysterious love, took the worst that humanity could offer — betrayal, torture, injustice, and a shameful death — and He transformed it into the very source of our salvation. He did not eliminate suffering from a distance; He entered into it, sanctified it, and redeemed it from the inside out. This is the great paradox we celebrate today: the instrument of death became the tree of life.
The Church, in her wisdom, gives us this Feast not just to look back, but to look around at our own world and to look inward at our own hearts. The message of the Cross is not a historical artifact; it is shockingly, painfully, and hopefully relevant to each one of us today.
The Cross is relevant because it speaks truth in a world of illusions. Our world is obsessed with avoiding pain. We are sold on the illusion that the good life is a pain-free life: comfort, convenience, instant gratification, and the constant pursuit of happiness defined as the absence of suffering. But I think we all know, in the quiet moments, that this is simply not true. Suffering finds us all – illness, grief, anxiety, failure, betrayal.
The Cross doesn’t explain why we suffer. But it does tell us who suffers with us. It reveals that God does not watch our pain from heaven, but who plunges into the depths of it. When you are nailed to your own personal cross of despair or loneliness, you are not alone. Christ is there with you, his arms outstretched next to yours, sharing the weight. The Cross validates our suffering and tells us it has meaning when united to His.
We live in a culture that exalts power, wealth, celebrity, and self-sufficiency. It tells us to climb the ladder, to look out for number one, to win. The Cross stands in utter contradiction to all that. It exalts humility over arrogance, service over domination, love over power, and self-giving over self-seeking. It reveals that true strength is found not in dominating others, but in loving them to the end. True victory is not in avoiding death, but in passing through it to the resurrection.
In our own lives, this means our daily victories are not found in proving we are right, but in apologizing when we are wrong. They are found not in accumulating more for ourselves, but in giving generously to others. They are found in the quiet, humble, often unnoticed acts of love: the patient listening to a struggling child, the caring for an aging parent, the forgiving of a deep wound. This is the way of the Cross. It is the way of true love, and it is the most powerful force in the universe.
Yes, the Cross is our sure hope in a world of brokenness. Look at the news: war, division, hatred, and environmental crises. Look at the fractures in our own families and communities. We can often feel powerless. What can we possibly do?
The Cross tells us that the healing of the world begins not with political strategy or a military victory, but with sacrificial love. Christ’s arms outstretched on the Cross are open to everyone, without exception. They are the ultimate sign of reconciliation, breaking down the walls between heaven and earth, and between us. Our mission is to be those arms in the world — to be bridges of reconciliation, not walls of division. To love beyond our comfort zone, to forgive when it seems impossible, to offer hope where there is despair.
As we celebrate the Feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross let us embrace its meaning. When suffering comes, see the Cross and know God is with you. When the world tempts you with its empty values, look to the Cross and choose the path of humble love. When you feel hopeless about the world’s problems, take up your own cross — your capacity to love sacrificially, and follow Jesus.
God did not erase the Cross. He transforms it. And He promises to do the same with our crosses; not necessarily to take them away, but to transform them into instruments of grace, redemption, and everlasting life. This is our faith. This is our hope. This is the power of the Holy Cross, exalted for all ages.
“If anyone wants to be my follower, let them deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me”
(Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23).
St. Jude, pray for us ~
With prayer for a blessed week,
Fr. Ryan