Altar_Green

Pastor's Message

 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                         “God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”   Gal 6:14

 

          “Nicodemus, No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. “And just as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that Whoever Believes in Him may have Eternal Life.”

          Today we celebrate the feast of “The Exaltation of the Cross” also called “Triumph of the Cross” or “The Elevation of the Cross.”

          On this Feast, the Church invites us, to proudly lift up this Glorious Wood and give thanks to God. For on the tree which brought death through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, life explodes anew in its fullness in the death and resurrection of the second Adam; Christ Jesus, Our Lord.

          The beginning of the celebration of this Feast is quite an interesting one.

          According to tradition, first mentioned by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem in 348 AD, St Helena, Mother of Emperor Constantine, nearing the end of her life, decided to go and search for the Cross, on which Jesus died. Helena, arrived in Jerusalem, and by the blessing of God, met a Jew by the name of Judas, who knew of the tradition concerning the hiding of the Cross. Judas became of great help as a leader, in excavating the holy spot in which the Cross was hidden. They found several crosses, and according to another tradition, the inscription on the Cross of Jesus was missing. St Helena and the Bishop of Jerusalem, Saint Macarius, devised an experiment to determine which of the Crosses, was the True Cross. Two Miracles were obtained as a result; One of the three crosses were taken to a woman who was near death; when she touched the True Cross, she was healed. In another, the body of a dead man was brought to the place where the three crosses were, and laid upon each one. The True Cross restored the dead man to Life.

          In celebration of the discovery of the True Cross, Emperor Constantine ordered the construction of two Churches, One at the site of the Holy Sepulcher and the other on Mount Calvary. Those Churches were dedicated on September 13th and 14th 335 AD and shortly thereafter this Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross began to be celebrated on the latter date. The feast slowly spread from Jerusalem to other Churches, until 720, the celebration was universal.

          The Cross, the instrument of torture, the symbol of a curse and death, which, on Good Friday, manifested how ruthless humanity can be, wonderfully manifested the extend of God’s love and mercy for humanity; “On the Cross, the darkest of human condition met the Fullness of Divine Love and found itself transfigured into Life.”

          We celebrate and exalt the Cross of Christ, because by the Cross we see and know the full extent of the love of God, in his Son crucified. By the Cross, we are saved and are victorious! By the Cross, we have life in its fullness, in Christ Jesus.

          Let us then, exalt the Cross with the words of St Paul to the Galatians; “God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” Gal 6:14.

         

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