The crosses in Catholic churches and in Catholic homes, along with the crosses that Catholics wear and sign themselves with, should always serve as a reminder of Jesus’ glorious victory over sin and death.
Non-believers may wonder why Catholics commemorate the Cross, the instrument that was used to torture and kill Jesus, not understanding that it is actually the means of salvation.
By his death on the Cross and his Resurrection from the tomb, Jesus defeated death, allowing man to enter Heaven and to experience eternal life.
In the early 4th century, the mother of Emperor Constantine, St. Helena, discovered the site of Jesus’ Crucifixion while searching for holy places from the life of Jesus in Jerusalem.
Helena commissioned the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the site of her discovery. The True Cross was discovered during excavation and it has been venerated ever since.
A basilica and a shrine was built on the site of Jesus’ Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection and dedicated by St. Constantine in 335 AD.
The Cross of Jesus was captured by the King of Persia in 614 and returned to Jerusalem in 631 by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius.
Both the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14. Celebrating both the discovery and the recovery of the True Cross, the feast is also called the Triumph of the Cross.
The great paradox of Christianity:
God chose to die on the Cross:
A symbol of disgrace transformed into a symbol of triumph:
“No one has gone up to Heaven except the one who has come down from Heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.”
John 3: 13-15
The instrument of our salvation:
Reassurance that God loves us unconditionally:
The Cross was “lifted up” on Golgotha. And Jesus was nailed to the Cross, and was therefore lifted up with it. To the human eye, this was the culmination of humiliation and disgrace. But in the eyes of God it was different. It was different in the eternal designs of God. The Apostle continues: “Because of this, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name above every other name, so that at Jesus’ name every knee must bend in the heavens, on the Earth, and under the Earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father: Jesus Christ is Lord”. Christ is the Lord! This will be confirmed in the Resurrection, but it is already contained in the Crucifixion. Precisely in the Crucifixion. To be crucified, humanly speaking, is to be disgraced and humiliated. But from God’s point of view it means being lifted up, indeed, to be lifted up by means of the Cross. Christ is the Lord, and He becomes Lord of everything and everyone in this elevation by means of the Cross. It is in this way that we look upon the Cross, with the eyes of faith, instructed by the word of God, guided by the power of God. Here then is the mystery of the Triumph of the Cross.
Pope John Paul II, Homily, 14 September 1987
The Cross triumphs:
Embrace Jesus’ Cross as well as your own:
Not the suffering but the way to face suffering:
The Council of Trent emphasizes the unique character of Christ’s sacrifice as “the source of eternal salvation” and teaches that “his most holy Passion on the wood of the Cross merited justification for us.” and the Church venerates his Cross as she sings: “Hail, O Cross, our only hope.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 617
Exalting the Cross on the site where Jesus was crucified:
A univeral celebration lived in different ways:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Living a life that is both contemplative and apostolic:
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