Exaltation of the Holy Cross

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Sunday, 14 September 2025 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we celebrate the special occasion of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, remembering the very important moment in the history of the Church in which the Holy Cross, the actual Cross on which Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, had hung upon and had been nailed to during the time of His ultimate sacrifice of love at Calvary two millennia ago. This Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross also marks three important occasions in the history of the Church that were deeply related to this holy relic of our faith, the Holy Cross or True Cross of Jesus Christ. Firstly, it was the discovery of the Holy and True Cross itself, and then secondly, the Dedication of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, built on the site of Calvary itself, and lastly, the Triumphant entry of the Holy and True Cross back to Jerusalem at the conclusion of the Byzantine-Persian War six centuries after the Lord’s Resurrection.

First of all, the Holy and True Cross of Our Lord had been lying dormant in the site where it had been hidden with the two other crosses used to crucify the two thieves that were crucified with the Lord, at the site of Calvary itself, and after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and the rebuilding of that city as a Roman city know as Aelia Capitolina, for a few centuries, the location of the True Cross became hidden and forgotten, buried underneath the Roman pagan temples and other edifices. It was then about three centuries after the Lord’s Resurrection, after the triumph of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great over his many rivals to the Roman Imperial throne, that his mother, the Empress Mother Helena, also known as St. Helena, went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and in that occasion, discovered the Holy and True Cross of Our Lord.

The story goes with how three crosses were discovered at the site of the Lord’s Crucifixion at Calvary, which had been buried under the Roman structures, and in order to distinguish and find out which of the crosses was the one that the Lord was crucified with, it was brought upon a sick man, and true enough, one of the crosses made the man immediately to be cured, identifying that Cross as the one that Our Lord Himself had borne at His Crucifixion. St. Helena therefore arranged for the True Cross to be taken out from the place it was discovered, and placed upon great honour in Jerusalem, with its pieces and splinters eventually spread and finding their way to other great shrines and holy sites of Christendom. That was how the True Cross was discovered and its discovery celebrated until this very day.

And since at that time, through the great support and favour from Emperor Constantine the Great himself, many churches and basilicas were built in Rome and elsewhere throughout the Empire, including in Jerusalem, a great church dedicated to the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection was built in the site of Calvary as mentioned, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, standing atop where the Lord Himself had died on His Cross and was buried in the tomb nearby. The moment when this great Basilica, one of the most important holy sites of our Christian faith was dedicated to the Lord is one of the celebrations we mark on this great Feast. This Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre still stands to this day and remains one of the most important pilgrimage sites for all Christians from all around the world, including many of our separated brethren.

Lastly, a few centuries later, when a truly destructive war raged between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Persian Sassanian Empire in the early seventh century, the city of Jerusalem and much of the Eastern Mediterranean region were conquered and captured by the Persians, and this included the True Cross itself, which was brought to Persia as a war treasure, and the situation was really very bleak for the Romans at that time, with defeats after defeats happening, but eventually under the leadership of the new Emperor, Emperor Heraclius, the situation gradually improved and the defeats were reversed, culminating in the great victory and triumph after which all the defeats were reversed and the True Cross itself was returned to the hands of Christians, with the Emperor bringing the True Cross on foot into the city of Jerusalem. This is one of the events that we celebrate today on this Feast.

Now that we have looked into the historical reasons for this great Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, now we should look deeper into the significance of the Holy Cross and its centrality to our Christian faith. There is no other symbol more representative and powerful in representing and showing our Christian faith other than the Cross, and this symbol, once the symbol of oppression, humiliation and punishment, the symbol of ultimate shame and derogation, the punishment reserved by the Romans to the worst criminals and offenders, have become the symbol of the ultimate triumph and victory, glory and honour, as well as majesty and greatness, all because of what the Lord Jesus Christ had done through His Cross, the Cross that He bore upon Himself to bring about our salvation.

Then, from what we have heard in our first reading passage today, taken from the Book of Numbers, of the time when the Israelites rebelled against God and refused to obey Him, and as a result fiery serpents were sent against them, and Moses was instructed to craft a bronze serpent figurine on a pole or staff, a figure later known as the Nehushtan. And the Lord told Moses to raise up the bronze serpent, and as mentioned, all those who were bitten by the fiery serpents perished, but those who were bitten and then look upon the bronze serpent lived on and did not die. This bronze serpent was indeed the prefigurement of what the Lord Himself would do for all of us mankind through His Son, although no one was aware of this at that time. It was only later on that parallels became clear and the truth came to light of the great deeds that the Lord had done.

That is because the fiery serpents represent the sins that the people had committed, all the wickedness which they had done and the punishments due for those transgressions and sins, while the punishment of sin is indeed death, for sin is caused by disobedience against God, which led to our separation from Him and hence, the separation from the Lord and Master of all life. But God in all His love and mercy towards us does not wish us to be lost from Him and to be eternally separated from Him, and that was why He gave us all the perfect remedy through His own Beloved Son, Who like the bronze serpent of Moses would be raised and lifted up for everyone to see, in the glory of His Cross, when He, the Son of God, laid dying on the Cross for the salvation of the world.

And it is this perfect obedience to the will of His heavenly Father, by which Christ our Lord has redeemed us all, as according to our second reading this Sunday from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Philippians. In that passage we heard of the great obedience by which the Lord accomplished everything that had been planned for our salvation, delivering us all from the clutches of sin and death. And all these were done to fulfil everything that God, our most loving Father had wanted to do for us, as our Gospel passage this Sunday from the Gospel of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist had highlighted to us, of how much God truly loves us all that He sent His Son to us, to suffer the worst of indignation, humiliation and punishments on our behalf just so that we may have life and true happiness with Him.

But what is truly important is that the reason why this symbol of the Cross has been transformed into an instrument of victory and triumph from that of humiliation and defeat, because of everything that Christ our Lord and Saviour had done, and as we celebrate and rejoice greatly on this day, let us all reflect carefully on this fact and continue to gaze upon the Cross of Christ, our Saviour, the Cross by which He has conquered sin and death, and redeemed us from eternal damnation and darkness, and bringing us all into the light and hope of eternal life. Let us all commit ourselves anew henceforth to His cause, and do our very best to be ever more faithful in all things, doing our part to be the faithful bearers of our own crosses in life, carrying them together with Our Lord and His Cross.

May the Lord, our triumphant and majestic King, the King of Kings, Whose Throne is His Holy Cross, be with us always and guide us all to the ultimate victory against darkness, sin and evil. May He continue to encourage and strengthen us by His Holy and True Cross, and help us to persevere against all the challenges and trials in life. Let us all not be easily distracted and tempted by the many pressures, difficulties and obstacles in our paths. Even when our path may be at its darkest, and when hope is torn out from our hearts and minds, let us always trust the Lord wholeheartedly that He has the path forward for us, and that through Him alone we can be sure of lasting and true happiness, being with Him and all those whom we love forevermore. May He bless our every efforts and endeavours, to be ever more faithful in each and every moment. Amen.

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Sunday, 14 September 2025 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 3 : 13-17

At that time, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “No one has ever gone up to heaven except the One Who came from heaven, the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”

“Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through Him the world is to be saved.”

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Sunday, 14 September 2025 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Philippians 2 : 6-11

Though He was in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and in His appearance found as a Man.

He humbled Himself by being obedient to death, death on the cross. That is why God exalted Him and gave Him the Name which outshines all names, so that at the Name of Jesus all knees should bend in heaven, on earth and among the dead, and all tongues proclaim that Christ Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father.

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Sunday, 14 September 2025 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 77 : 1-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38

Give heed, o My people, to My teaching; listen to the words of My mouth! I will speak in parables; I will talk of old mysteries.

When He slew them, they repented and sought Him earnestly. They remembered that God was their Rock, the Most High, their Redeemer.

But they flattered Him with their mouths; they lied to Him with their tongues, while their hearts were unfaithful; they were untrue to His Covenant.

Even then, in His compassion, He forgave their offences and did not destroy them. Many a time He restrained His anger, and did not fully stir up His wrath.

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Sunday, 14 September 2025 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Numbers 21 : 4b-9

The people were discouraged by the journey and began to complain against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water here and we are disgusted with this tasteless manna.”

YHVH then sent fiery serpents against them. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, speaking against YHVH and against you. Plead with YHVH to take the serpents away.”

Moses pleaded for the people and YHVH said to him, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whenever a man was bitten, he looked towards the bronze serpent and he lived.

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Thursday, 14 September 2023 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, marking the very significant moments when the Holy Cross of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is triumphant and glorious, over the enemies of the Lord and over all those who oppose Him, in three distinct events which are all commemorated together today on this great Feast. These events are first of all, the finding of the True Cross by St. Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, and then the Dedication of the churches that had been built and dedicated by the same Emperor Constantine the Great at Mount Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre, marking the site of the Lord’s Crucifixion, and lastly, the triumphant entry of the True Cross into Jerusalem, the Holy City, after it had been taken away by the Persians, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Heraclius, who managed to regain and restore the True Cross.

Regarding the first event, it was told according to history and traditions that St. Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, travelled to the Holy Land in search of the True Cross of the Lord, and managed to find this very important relic and historical artefact, when she discovered three crosses hidden and buried at the site of the Crucifixion outside Jerusalem, which had been hidden and forgotten for several centuries. St. Helena identified the right Cross by touching the crosses to a person suffering from sickness, and one of the three crosses made the person to be immediately healed, which identified that cross as the Cross on which Our Lord was crucified. The other two crosses belonged to the two thieves who were crucified besides the Lord.

That discovery of the True Cross also came about at a very important time in the history of the Church, as it happened just shortly after the victory and triumph of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great over all of his enemies and rivals, many of whom persecuted Christians, following that of the earlier Emperors and rulers of the Roman state. Emperor Constantine the Great was the first Roman ruler who extended official toleration of Christians, ending centuries of terrible and harsh persecutions and oppressions against them, with the famous Edict of Milan and then, after having defeated all of his rivals, extending the freedom for all Christians to believe in God to the whole Empire. Emperor Constantine the Great also supported many Church institutions and donated generously to build many churches and places of worship for Christians, among which as mentioned are the churches established on the Holy Sepulchre and Mount Calvary.

Therefore, symbolically, the discovery of the True Cross also signified the triumph that the Lord and His conquering Cross over that of those who opposed Him and oppressed His faithful ones. And we also cannot forget the famous story of how Emperor Constantine himself came to entrust himself and the Empire to Christ, that when it was the time of his pivotal battle and struggle against his great rival, Maxentius, at the Battle of Milvian Bridge shortly before the Edict of Milan, the Lord showed Emperor Constantine the great sign in the sky, which was either a Cross or the Chi-Ro symbol of Christ, and with the words in the Emperor’s vision, that ‘with this Sign, you shall win and conquer’, which came true with his great victory at the battle and in the ultimate triumph of Christianity against the pagan faith of Rome.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now that we have discussed the historical events which led to this celebration of the Triumph and Exaltation of the Holy Cross, let us all now delve even deeper into the importance and significance of the Cross of Christ to all of us. The Cross of Christ is the symbol of our Hope and the Light that has pierced through the darkness surrounding us, giving us the strength and inspiration to break free from the tyranny and domination by the devil and from the depredations of sin. It is through the Cross that each and every one of us have been shown the path to glory and true joy in God, the assurance of eternal life and liberation from the chains that have shackled us due to our disobedience and sin against God. The Cross is the reminder of everything that God has done out of love for each and every one of us.

Symbolically, the Cross also marks the reversal of the disobedience of our ancestors, who have, in their moment of pride, eaten from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil, listening to the falsehoods and lies of the devil rather than to trust in God and His providence. Thus, by another tree, the wood of the Cross, that God showed us the perfect obedience of His Son, as the Son of Man, Who offered Himself, stripped from all honour and glory, as we heard what St. Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Philippians. By the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, brought us all from the darkness of sin, dispelling and reversing the effects of the downfall of man in the Gardens of Eden, and showing us all the path of righteousness and virtue, the path of grace towards the eternal life and full reconciliation with God, our Master and Creator.

And as we heard in our Gospel reading passage today, that very famous words of the Lord, ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life.’, through which we are reminded that God has always loved us and treated us all with great care and compassion despite our rebelliousness and stubbornness in disobeying Him and His Law, His commandments and ways. He sent unto us His Son, that by His coming into this world, the Divine Word of God incarnate in the flesh, God might show all of us His perfect love manifested and tangible to us, approachable and no longer impossible for us to attain. Through His Passion and then Crucifixion of the Holy and Triumphant Cross, the Lord then reaffirmed His ultimate and enduring love, fulfilling His own words, that ‘there is no greater love than this, for someone to lay down his life for a friend’ and ‘The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep’.

As mentioned earlier, the Cross is also the symbol of Christ’s perfect obedience to His Father’s will, showing all of us what it truly means for us to be Christians, to be followers of the path of God and to believe in His truth and Good News. Every time we look upon the Cross upon which Our Lord and Saviour is hung, we should remember this great and most amazing love that we have received from Him, that He has poured out freely from His Cross, through the breaking of His Body and the outpouring of His Blood, by which His Triumphant Cross unlocked for us the gates of Heaven, and led us out of the depth of darkness and sin, from the threat of eternal damnation into the fullness of grace and eternal life in God. The Lord has shown us His perfect love in the Cross, and all of us should well remember this Love, as we go through this great celebration today. Hopefully, all of us will also be full of the same love, for both our Lord Himself and also for our fellow brothers and sisters, all around us, as is our calling and mission as Christians.

May all of us, God’s beloved people, continue to put our faith and trust in Him, as we look upon His Cross, the Cross that has conquered and triumphed, the symbol of humiliation and defeat that had been transformed by Christ’s death and ultimately His glorious Resurrection, into the most triumphant Cross by which sin and death had been crushed, and by which the devil and all of his wicked forces had been defeated and overcome. Let us always rejoice in the Holy Cross, and be the most courageous and faithful bearers of our own crosses, as we carry them with our Lord, ever being faithful and dedicated to the path which He has shown us. Let the Cross of Christ, the ever Triumphant and Victorious Cross illuminate our path, and help us to remain firm and faithful in our commitment to God, to be ever worthy of Him, at all times, and let us follow the Lord wholeheartedly always in our every moments in life. May God bless us all and may He guide us through this journey and faith in life, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 14 September 2023 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 3 : 13-17

At that time, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “No one has ever gone up to heaven except the One Who came from heaven, the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”

“Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through Him the world is to be saved.”

by

Thursday, 14 September 2023 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 77 : 1-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38

Give heed, o My people, to My teaching; listen to the words of My mouth! I will speak in parables; I will talk of old mysteries.

When He slew them, they repented and sought Him earnestly. They remembered that God was their Rock, the Most High, their Redeemer.

But they flattered Him with their mouths; they lied to Him with their tongues, while their hearts were unfaithful; they were untrue to His Covenant.

Even then, in His compassion, He forgave their offences and did not destroy them. Many a time He restrained His anger, and did not fully stir up His wrath.

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Thursday, 14 September 2023 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Numbers 21 : 4b-9

The people were discouraged by the journey and began to complain against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water here and we are disgusted with this tasteless manna.”

YHVH then sent fiery serpents against them. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, speaking against YHVH and against you. Plead with YHVH to take the serpents away.”

Moses pleaded for the people and YHVH said to him, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whenever a man was bitten, he looked towards the bronze serpent and he lived.

Alternative reading (Second Reading if this Feast is celebrated as a Solemnity)

Philippians 2 : 6-11

Though He was in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and in His appearance found as a Man.

He humbled Himself by being obedient to death, death on the cross. That is why God exalted Him and gave Him the Name which outshines all names, so that at the Name of Jesus all knees should bend in heaven, on earth and among the dead, and all tongues proclaim that Christ Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father.

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Wednesday, 14 September 2022 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, celebrating the three moments in history related to the Holy Cross of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This day we mark the moment when the True Cross, the actual Cross on which the Lord was hung and nailed on, was discovered by St. Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. It also marked the occasion of the Dedication of the Basilicas and churches built by the same Emperor Constantine on the Mount Calvary in Jerusalem. Lastly, it also marked the moment when the True Cross reentered Jerusalem in great triumph after having been captured by the Persian Sassanians three centuries after it had been discovered.

Essentially, in terms of historical significance, today’s Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross marked the moments when the true Faith and the Cross of Christ was triumphant over the forces of the world, such as the moment when the Christian faith and Church finally triumphed against those arrayed against them, as they were officially tolerated and the persecutions against them rescinded by the same Emperor Constantine the Great through the Edict of Milan. It was a moment of triumph that roughly coincided with the rediscovery of the True Cross of Our Lord and Saviour at the site of Mount Calvary. It was also another moment of triumph when the forces of Christendom triumphed over the pagan Sassanians, and reclaimed the True Cross from the enemy.

However, this Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is much more than just all of that. The most important triumph that this Feast celebrates today is the great triumph that Our Lord and Saviour has won for all of us, as He raised His Cross and was Himself raised on it, for the salvation of all the whole world, of all mankind, of all of God’s beloved children. Through His Cross, Our Lord Jesus Christ has shown us the perfect manifestation of God’s love as well as the perfect obedience of Man, through which God reached out to us and Man reached out to Him, with Christ forming the important Bridge through His Cross, reconnecting us and God.

In our first reading today we heard the story of what happened when the Israelites rebelled against God in the desert, and we heard about the bronze serpent of Moses which was crafted to help the Israelites. At that time, the rebellious Israelites disobeyed God such that the Lord sent fiery serpents to strike at them as punishment for their sins, disobedience and wickedness. Many died from those fiery serpents and their bites, and the people begged the Lord for forgiveness and mercy. It was then that the Lord told Moses to craft that bronze serpent as a sign of God’s salvation and mercy, and all those who saw that bronze serpent after being bitten did not perish.

That occasion is mirrored in our Gospel passage today when we heard of the exchange between the Lord Jesus and Nicodemus, the Pharisee who was sympathetic to Him and His teachings. The Lord spoke of the parallel between what happened back then and what He Himself would have to undergo, as He would be raised up as the Son of Man, before all the people much as how the bronze serpent was raised up by Moses before the whole people of Israel. And just as how the bronze serpent showed the salvation, mercy, compassion and forgiveness from God for His people, sparing them from the fiery serpents, thus, the Lord has also showed the infinite love of God through His crucifixion and His Cross.

The Lord has shown us His enduring and patient love, made manifest through His Son, and this was made possible because He loved us so much that He willingly emptied Himself and took up the appearance and essence of our humanity, by being born of His mother Mary, becoming the Son of God incarnate in the flesh, and becoming the Son of Man. Through His incarnation in the flesh, God made His love visible and tangible for us, and by His voluntary sacrifice on the Cross, the show of God’s ultimate love, all of us have witnessed and received the manifestation of that undying love. By suffering and dying on the Cross, He made us all sharers in His salvation, and die to our sins, and by His glorious Resurrection, He shared with us the new life, free from sin that we shall enjoy for eternity.

Not only that, but as I mentioned earlier, Christ by His humble submission to His Father’s will has shown us all mankind how we can be truly faithful to the Lord, and breaking free from the chains of sin and wickedness that had enslaved us, and how we can gain freedom from death through Christ and His assurance of salvation and new life for us. While the first Adam faltered and failed when tested by the devil, and succumbed to the temptations of his desires, ending up with sin that corrupted us all, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the New Adam showed us that we should not and cannot bow down to those temptations or to the devil, and we should instead seek the Lord and commit ourselves to Him wholeheartedly.

That is why the devil, Satan, and all of his fallen allies, the evil spirits and demons despised and feared the Holy Cross, because that tool of humiliation that was once used for the worst of criminals, as means for great suffering and humiliation, has become the means by which God saved His beloved people, and through His Holy Cross, the Lord has cast a devastating blow upon the devil and all of his forces, and broke their dominion over us forever, showing us the sure path to freedom from sin and death, and into eternal life. This is why today we mark that glorious triumph of the Holy Cross over the forces of sin, evil and death.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect on the significance and importance of today’s Feast, its meaning and purpose, and how it has shown us the salvation of God and the triumph of His Cross, let us all also reflect and ponder upon our own lives. Let us all look upon the Lord on His Cross, the Crucifix, and discern how each and every one of us can be better disciples of His. We cannot continue to live our lives with apathy towards our faith, ignorance or lukewarmness, in how we practice our Christian faith and beliefs. We should not be hypocrites, and should not forget the love and compassion that God has always generously shown us.

Let us all look upon He Who has been crucified for us upon the Holy and Glorious Cross. Let us all glorify and praise Him more and more each day, by our own worthy and grace-filled lives, dedicating ourselves in each and every moments to love and serve the Lord ever more with our every living moments, with all of our might and strength. May the Lord, through His triumphant Cross, continue to guide us forward to the path towards eternal life. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.