14 September 2022
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Today is the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. It celebrates the Holy Cross of Christ. During Good Friday, Christians come to adore the cross which is often expressed with the kiss of the wood of the cross at the Church. We pay this tender devotion to the wood itself because it was through this means that our redemption was won by Christ our savior.
In today’s readings we are reminded why we reverence the Cross of Christ: we kiss the cross because it is an image of the great cost and great love which our salvation was won; we kiss the cross because the cross reveals Christs humility and obedience by which he won our salvation; we kiss the cross because upon it hung God’s kiss of love to the world; we kiss the cross because of our love for our savior.
The feast of the exaltation of the Cross reminds us Christians of God’s Love, our inherent dignity and worth, and that our sufferings and struggles are not meaningless but are means of grace and salvation. The exhalation of Christ’s cross is a reminder to never let our crosses in this life weigh us down. Rather, let us exalt our crosses like our Savior at calvary so as to join them to his act of love, humility, and salvation, and thus to transform our sufferings into moments of grace.