Homily – Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

The Cross.
An instrument of torture.
A symbol of shame.
A tree of death.

But for us — the throne of love.
The sign of victory.
The ladder to heaven.

Today we exalt the Cross.
Not because we love pain.
But because on the Cross, Christ loved us to the end.

Israel grumbled in the desert.
They were bitten by serpents.
They cried for help.
And God told Moses: “Lift up a bronze serpent on a pole. Whoever looks at it will live.”

Strange.
Life through looking at the image of death.
Healing through a symbol of what wounded them.

This was prophecy.
A shadow.
It pointed forward.
To Christ lifted high on the Cross.

In the Gospel, Jesus says:
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Lifted up — on the wood.
Lifted up — in agony.
Lifted up — in glory.

On the Cross, the sickness of sin is exposed.
On the Cross, the remedy is given.
The wound becomes the cure.

St Paul tells us the secret.
Christ Jesus, though in the form of God,
did not cling to equality with God.
He emptied Himself.
He humbled Himself.
Obedient unto death — even death on a Cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted Him.
Therefore every knee shall bow.

The Cross is not failure.
It is the shape of divine love.
Love that bends low.
Love that holds nothing back.
Love stronger than sin, stronger than death.

We hang crucifixes in our churches, in our homes, on our necks.
But the Cross is not decoration.
It is declaration.

It declares: This is how much God loves you.
It declares: Sin is real, but mercy is greater.
It declares: Death is real, but resurrection is sure.

Every time you make the sign of the Cross,
you trace on your body the story of salvation.
You sign yourself with victory.

The world sees the Cross as foolishness.
A defeated man on a gibbet.
But we see the power of God.

The world says: save yourself.
Christ says: lose yourself, and you will find life.

The world says: win by crushing your enemies.
Christ says: win by forgiving them.

The Cross turns the world upside down.
And only from that upside-down place does salvation come.

And here, my brothers and sisters, as we begin a new chapter together,
the Cross must be at the centre.

Not gimmicks.
Not human plans.
The Cross.

A parish that clings to the Cross is never defeated.
A parish that preaches Christ crucified will never be empty.
A parish that loves with the love of the Cross will bear fruit.

The Cross is our renewal.
The Eucharist makes it present.
Confession applies its mercy.
Daily prayer lets it shape our lives.

Everything flows from here.

There’s a story of a missionary in a poor village.
The people had little — no electricity, no clean water.
But in the chapel was a wooden Cross, worn smooth by the touch of hands.

Every day, villagers came in, laid their hands on it, whispered their prayers.
One man said: “We have nothing else. But we have this Cross. And in this Cross we know God has not forgotten us.”

That is the Cross.
Not escape from suffering.
But God with us in suffering.
And God leading us through it into glory.

So how do we exalt the Cross today?

Not just by singing hymns.
But by living cruciform lives.

By forgiving when it costs.
By serving without thanks.
By carrying our daily crosses with faith.

By loving as He loved:
unto the end.

On the altar the Cross will be lifted high again — not in bronze, but in bread and wine.
The sacrifice of Calvary made present.
The Lamb once slain, now living.

Here the Cross is not only remembered.
It is given.
We receive His Body broken, His Blood poured out.
We take the Cross into ourselves.

And then we are sent out —
to live it.
To carry it.
To show it to the world.

So today, do not be ashamed of the Cross.
Do not hide it.
Do not soften it.

Exalt it.
Lift it high.
Because it is life, not death.
Victory, not defeat.
Mercy, not condemnation.

“This man was lifted up so that the world might be saved.”

So let us say with Paul:
“Far be it from me to glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”