Every September 14 the Church celebrates the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, an ancient and solemn memory that brings us back to the heart of the Christian faith. It is not a simple veneration of an object, but the contemplation of the mystery it contains, the cross, an instrument of torture and humiliation, has become by God’s will the supreme sign of love and salvation. It is the paradox of the Christian faith, from death comes life, from defeat victory, from shame glory.

The origins of the celebration

This feast has its roots in Jerusalem, at the Holy Sepulcher, where saint Helena, mother of emperor Constantine, found the True Cross. Since then, generations of pilgrims have stood before that blessed wood to adore the One who was lifted up on it out of love.

This year as well, on Sunday September 14, the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land gathered at Calvary to celebrate this important solemnity.

The homily at Calvary

In the homily delivered on Mount Calvary, Br. Ulise Zarza, Vicar of the Custos of the Holy Land, recalled how this celebration invites us to turn our gaze to the Crucified One, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3,16). The cross, he explained, is at the same time throne and altar, place of pain and of glory.

The Cross, throne and glory of Christ

Br. Zarza emphasized that the cross has no value in itself, but in the mystery it reveals, Christ was lifted up not only as a sign of suffering but as the manifestation of his glorification. Recalling the Fathers of the Church, he reminded how saint John Chrysostom defined the cross as "the royal throne on which Christ conquered death".

The way of humility and obedience

At the center of the meditation is the path of Christ, who by passing through humiliation and obedience even to death on a cross, was exalted by the Father. This "kenosis", radical self-emptying, is the way that leads to exaltation. And it is the same path that Christians are called to walk, humility, obedience, service and gratuitous love.

Fixing our gaze on the Crucifix

Br. Ulise invited the faithful to fix their gaze on the Crucified, because only in this way can we be healed and transformed, "whoever looks with faith at the crucified Christ, Origen exhorts us, is healed of the bites of sin". The cross thus becomes our strength in trials, our light in darkness, our hope in suffering.

The homily concluded with an invitation to praise, to Christ crucified and exalted, conqueror of death and our hope, be honor and glory forever.