{"id":1450,"date":"2014-09-14T12:09:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-14T16:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1450"},"modified":"2014-09-14T12:09:45","modified_gmt":"2014-09-14T16:09:45","slug":"homily-exaltation-of-the-holy-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/homily-exaltation-of-the-holy-cross\/","title":{"rendered":"Homily – Exaltation of the Holy Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exaltation of the Holy Cross<\/a>
\nNumbers 21:4b-9
\nPhilippians 2:6-11
\nJohn 3:13-17
\nSeptember 14, 2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today we take a step away from what would normally be the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time for this feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.<\/p>\n

This feast dates back to the fourth century when St. Helena found the Cross on which Jesus crucified, verified by the miraculous healing of a dying woman who touched the cross and was healed.<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, the Cross is a central image of our faith.\u00a0 You can\u2019t really be Christian without knowing of the Cross.\u00a0 As Catholics, the rubrics clearly state that a Crucifix is to be located near the Altar.<\/p>\n

We have our Crucifix behind the Tabernacle.\u00a0 There is the large Crucifix in the vestibule.\u00a0 Our gestures include the Cross.\u00a0 In our procession and recession, one of the altar servers carries the Processional Cross.\u00a0 Well, we call it a Processional Cross but we should note is a Crucifix.<\/p>\n

What makes a Cross a Crucifix?\u00a0 The Body of Christ.\u00a0 Knowing the Cross is central to our faith and today we celebrate this Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross but we do not worship the Cross itself.\u00a0 We worship Jesus as Son of God.\u00a0 We venerate the Cross as the instrument of our salvation.<\/p>\n

As we celebrate this feast, our readings first take us back to the time of the Exodus.\u00a0 The people were complaining against God and Moses.\u00a0 Saraph Serpents bite the people and many died.\u00a0 Those who remained came to Moses to admit their sins.\u00a0 God forgave them their sins and told Moses to make a saraph and mount it on a pole.\u00a0 All look at it will live.<\/p>\n

The pole did not have \u201cmagic powers\u201d to heal the people.\u00a0 Knowing God\u2019s promise of being healed they looked at the saraph pole with faith and in faith they were healed.\u00a0 This saraph pole became a sign of healing and even today this image is found on the website of the American Medical Association.<\/p>\n

Turning to Jesus\u2019 words in the gospel, he says that the Son of Man must be lifted up and all who believe in him will have eternal life.<\/p>\n

Jesus is lifted up on the Cross.\u00a0 The Cross becomes the instrument of our salvation.\u00a0 When the Israelites looked at the saraph pole in the desert they were healed physically.\u00a0 When we look at the Cross, we see the spiritual healing we need from our sins, healing that only Jesus can make possible.<\/p>\n

When you look at a Cross, what do you see?<\/p>\n

Some people wear a Cross around their neck but never come to church.\u00a0 I wonder if they just see it as jewelry.<\/p>\n

We see Crucifixes in church but how much do we think about what it means for us?\u00a0 We make the Sign of the Cross as we begin Mass.\u00a0 We are blessed with the Sign of the Cross at the end of Mass.<\/p>\n

Let us never forget what the Cross truly means for us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exaltation of the Holy Cross Numbers 21:4b-9 Philippians 2:6-11 John 3:13-17 September 14, 2014   Today we take a step away from what would normally be the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time for this feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feast dates back to the fourth century when St. Helena found the …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Homily – Exaltation of the Holy Cross’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-no","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1451,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions\/1451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}