Triumph of the Cross (2025-09-14)

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 [v.11]  Homily for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

 1. The Cross: From Shame to Glory

September 14 is the Feast of the Exaltation—or the Triumph—of the Cross.

Pope John Paul II once explained that the Cross, where Jesus was crucified, was once a sign of torture and shame. But through Christ it has become the sign of eternal life, of resurrection and new life. We hear this echoed in today’s Gospel Acclamation, which borrows from the Stations of the Cross: “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.”

St. Paul proclaims the same truth in our 2^nd reading from Philippians, chapter 2: “Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him.”

The Cross, then, predicts the Resurrection. Yet at first even Jesus’s closest followers could not see it. On the original Good Friday, they saw only loss, not victory.

Take James and John, for example. When Jesus spoke of his coming passion, they were not thinking about sharing in the Cross. They wanted seats of honor—one at his right and one at his left. I recognize myself there too. Often I want to know, “What do I get in return for this trial?” I want the reward guaranteed before I am willing to carry the burden. In that sense, I too can be fragile and weak.

Even Nicodemus, the Pharisee who sought Jesus at night, hesitated to go public with his faith. He was afraid of being outnumbered. Yet Nicodemus, still searching, reminds us of many teachers and mentors today who struggle to understand what they must also pass on to others. In that sense, he can be called a kind of patron saint of teachers.

But here lies the heart of the Gospel: the Cross is not about status, comfort, or safety. It is about God’s merciful love. As John 3:16 tells us:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

2. A World in Need of Rescue

The Cross also shows us that suffering and death were never part of God’s original plan. They entered the world through sin, disrupting the harmony of creation. Death is not natural—it is the rupture of body and soul. We grieve because we feel this loss so deeply.

But the Cross shows us something greater: while sin divides, God restores. Christ takes on our suffering to save us.

An image of this comes from Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air, about the 1996 Mount Everest disaster. Over time, even Everest had been commercialized. Teams sold “trips to the top,” even to climbers with little preparation. It was as if the world’s highest mountain itself had been put up for sale. One promoter even said, “We built a yellow brick road to the summit.”

But Everest was no theme park. When a violent storm struck, the mountain was unforgiving, and many perished. Yet in the midst of crisis, some climbers risked their own lives to save others, choosing self-sacrifice over self-preservation. At one point, a helicopter flew higher to a very high altitude to pick up an injured climber —a rescue both costly and dangerous. That daring moment gives us a glimpse of the Cross.

Just as climbers must prepare to be lifted up the mountain, we too must prepare our hearts to be lifted up by Christ. And Christ’s rescue goes far deeper than a mountain storm. It is God’s answer to sin, to suffering, to death itself.

The Church’s teaching on suffering affirms this truth: “The Cross shows us that God’s love is stronger than death, and by uniting ourselves to Jesus, our suffering does not have to defeat us in the end.”

 

3. Living the Triumph of the Cross

If we look at the news or our world today, it can often feel as though evil outnumbers the good. Violence, hatred, division—it can seem overwhelming. But the Cross proclaims otherwise.

Jesus teaches us that hatred cannot drive out hatred; only love and mercy can. This is why we are called to witness the Cross not merely by wearing it, but by living it:

·        love not only our neighbors, but even our enemies,

·        pray for our leaders, our mentors, and our teachers—as Nicodemus himself once struggled to do,

·        proclaim Christ not by power or prestige, but by mercy and truth and humility

St. John Henry Newman once asked why the Risen Lord revealed himself only to a few chosen witnesses. (Sermon: “Witnesses of the Resurrection”)

Why not to the whole city of Jerusalem, or to all of the capital city Rome? His answer was that God works through the faithful few. Great disasters may be caused by the wrongdoing of many, but true and lasting change usually begins with a small group of people, trained and faithful, who carry the Cross together.

And so we, too, are called to be those witnesses. Every time we make the sign of the Cross—on our minds, our lips, our hearts—we proclaim that salvation is not our work alone, but God working through us. We proclaim that our sins were nailed to that Cross, and that we are raised up with Christ.

 Closing 

May the sign of the Cross remind us daily that Christ has transformed death into life, despair into hope, and hatred into mercy. May the words of the Gospel and the mystery of the Cross be always on our minds, on our lips, and in our hearts.