Today we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This Feast commemorates events leading up to and including the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in 335 AD. The Emperor Constantine’s mother, Saint Helena went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 326. Legend has it that while she was in Jerusalem she found the true cross buried under a pagan temple. She had the pagan temple torn down and then Constantine had the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built on the site. The Feast also commemorates the return of the cross to Jerusalem by Emperor Heraclius in 628 after the Persians took it in 614 when they conquered Jerusalem.
Up until the 4th Century, the cross was not a Christian symbol of faith. Before then Crucifixion was a common form of execution and the cross was a symbol of suffering,
torture and death. It was Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, who abolished crucifixion as a form of punishment. And it was Constantine who first acclaimed the Cross as a symbol to be revered. When we celebrate and venerate the Cross, we are carrying on the tradition established by Constantine and his mother more than 1600 years ago.
For us the Cross is one of the primary symbols of our faith. It is a sign of God’s unconditional love for us. It is our sign of hope. Without the Cross, there would be no resurrection, redemption or salvation. In today’s gospel, John 3: 13 – 17, Jesus tells Nicodemus and he reminds us that God loves us so much that he “gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Through His death on the Cross Jesus shows us the way to the Father, the way of humility, obedience and love.
God our Father,
In obedience to you
Your only Son accepted death on the cross
For the salvation of mankind.
We acknowledge the mystery of the cross on earth.
May we receive the gift of redemption in heaven.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever.
Amen
