Homily

Today the Church celebrates the exaltation of the Holy Cross. On September 14, 335 a great crowd of the faithful gathered in Jerusalem for the dedication of the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, which had been renovated by Constantine. The celebration also commemorated the discovery of the wood of Jesus’ Cross. Since then in Jerusalem, this event has been celebrated every year; even today the celebrant priest lifts up and points in the four cardinal directions to indicate the universality of salvation. This spiritually significant celebration did not stop at Jerusalem; it soon spread to the different Churches-- first of the East, beginning with Constantinople, and then of the West, beginning with Rome. Truly in every part of the world it was and it is necessary to "lift high" the cross for Jesus was lifted on it to save all humankind.
The first reading of the liturgy reminds us of Israel’s way while it was in the wilderness, when many died bitten by poisonous serpents. We can see in such a narrative the situation of so many peoples who still today are bitten by the plague of numerous "poisonous snakes;" there are many of them in our world and often they are people themselves who bite others with poison at times even mortally. Moses lifted up a bronze serpent: whoever looked upon it would not die. Moses did all this figuratively; his act prefigured the cross. John the evangelist writes of it explicitly, "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up" (Jn 3:14), and further ahead, as if to buttress the biblical scene, he adds, "They will look on the one whom they have pierced" (Jn 19:37). There is need even today of exalting the cross, placing it high up so that all may see it.
But how is it possible to exalt a tool of torture to the point of devoting a feast day to it? It would be like if today we celebrated the electric chair and put its images everywhere and hang it as a necklace. We would certainly look weird if not worse. Unfortunately we got used to the image of the cross and we lost all sense of the cruelty it represents. We no longer think about how it was one of the harshest and cruellest instruments of torture of its time. But if we lose this sense, we no longer understand the greatness of the Crucified’s love.
The Church, with the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, wants to show everyone the unspeakable love of Jesus for humankind and for each one of us. This is why it is right to give thanks to the Lord for the Cross; The preface of the Mass has us sing, "In the tree of the Cross, you, oh God, have established the salvation of humanity, so that where death sprung up there life would raise." It is right to exalt the Cross; on that wood once for all love for oneself has been defeated, and love for others has triumphed definitively. The Cross is the culmination of Jesus’ love for the Father and for humanity. We can even say with Paul the apostle that Jesus began his way to the cross from when he "did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited." Because of love, "he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave;" because of love "he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." And the Father himself was so moved by the Son’s completely selfless love that He "exalted him and gave the name that is above every name."
On the cross, life and death confront each other in one last definitive battle; a battle which is fought in Jesus’ very body. Jesus dies. But with him also self-love dies. From on, at the side and at the feet of the cross, everyone was shouting at Jesus, "Save yourself." But Jesus carries till the end the burden of sin. He, who came to save others, could not save himself. His Gospel is exactly the opposite: "the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve" (Mt 20:28). Jesus could have avoided death. He could have listened to Peter and the other disciples who wanted to dissuade him form going to Jerusalem or have made a small deal with Pilate who even offered it to him. But he would have renounced his Gospel that is the opposite of what the world always says, "Save yourself." Dying as he did, Jesus saves love and we can say that finally there is someone among us who loves others more than himself. The apostle Paul makes us think deeply when he writes: "Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Rom 5:7-8).