Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Exaltation of the Cross, Triumph Over Sin and Death

Today, the Church has celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, or "triumph" of the Cross, as it is sometimes known in the West. It has a historical reference to the events that led to the finding of the place where Jesus died on the Cross by St. Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine.

The real meaning of the Feast, however, is Jesus and His love--which in all the suffering and agony and dying of the Cross is a Triumph because it is where God's Love proves itself greater than all sin and death.

In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus always speaks about His "Hour"--referring to His approaching death--as the same "Hour" in which He is "glorified" by the Father. " 'And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all things to myself' He said this to show by what death He was to die" (John 13:33).

In His death His glory is revealed, because in death He gives us His Love, and that is what (or who) God is. GOD IS LOVE.

I pray that every person might be touched, awakened, and changed by the light of the Glory of the Cross--the revelation and the enduring gift of Divine Mercy that springs from the very mystery of the God who is Love.