The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friends in Christ,

Originally, this day commemorated the recovery of the Holy Cross by the Emperor Heraclius after his victory over the Persians in 628. In time, however, this feast became associated with the finding of the Cross, while the feast of September 14 was kept for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In practice, May 3rd has come to be celebrated as the Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross, without excluding the memory of its recovery.

Tradition attributes to Saint Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, the honor of having the Cross searched for and discovered. It is said that she found it on the very site of Calvary. On this occasion, Constantine is believed to have built in Jerusalem the two basilicas, on Calvary and at the Holy Sepulcher, which were consecrated in 355. The largest portion of the True Cross is preserved in Rome, in the basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem.

The entire Mass for this day celebrates the glory of Our Savior's Cross. The repetition of certain texts from Holy Week, now placed in the radiant light of Easter, gives this Mass a particularly triumphant character. The Cross, devised as an instrument of torture and execution, became in the hands of Our Savior an instrument of healing and salvation.

The ways of God transform even the evil intentions and designs of devils and men and bring forth from them the greatest good. While we mourned with Jesus on Good Friday, our hearts are now filled with joy and gratitude. That great suffering and death have been transformed into the greatest joy, celebration, and life.

The Peace Prayer attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi says, "It is in dying that we are born to eternal life." Our Lord has shown us in His own Person that we must all die to this world if we are to live with Him in Heaven. Sadly, fear of worldly or temporal death keeps many from ever truly living. We expend our time and resources trying to cling to our present life, while giving little thought to our eternal life.

We fear death as an end, but in truth it is a beginning. Death is our birth into eternity. For all who truly love God, death is the leaving behind of all pain, suffering, and every limitation of this passing world, in order to enter into joy, happiness, and eternal glory with God in Heaven. For those who die without loving God, death is also the loss of all temporal things, but it means embracing eternal sickness, pain, and misery in Hell.

We are told that the greatest suffering in Hell is eternal separation from God. We were made for union with Him, yet all those in Hell will never be with Him. They are eternally separated and are therefore unable ever to fulfill the one purpose of their existence. If Saint Augustine is right in saying, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in You," then all the souls in Hell are eternally restless.

In our Easter joy, we rejoice not primarily in the suffering and death of Jesus, but in the Resurrection and the life that sprang from His Passion. Likewise, in our own lives we should not fix our gaze on the pain, suffering, and death of this world. We need not fear or shrink from our daily crosses. Rather, we should embrace them with joy, for they are the instruments by which we are freed and led to the true purpose of our being: union with God in Heaven.

With Saint Paul, we can ask death, "O death, where is thy sting?" (1 Cor. 15:55). With every trial and evil we endure in this life, we may rejoice that it brings us one step closer to God and to eternity with Him. We sing alleluia for the Cross of Christ; now we must learn to see and truly experience joy as we embrace our own daily crosses.

The accumulation of material goods in this life offers only passing pleasure, never everlasting joy. We quickly grow tired of things and seek to fill the resulting void with still more things. We are truly wise and truly alive only when we can say, with joy and full conformity to God's holy will, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).

Things, possessions, illnesses, and even the very persons and circumstances that one day separate us from this temporal life are not to be hated or despised. As we rejoice in the Cross of Jesus, so we should also learn to rejoice in our own daily crosses. As we wear and display the Cross of Christ as a badge of honor, so too the crosses we accept and bear willingly and lovingly, as Jesus did, become our personal badges of honor and glory. In every pain we endure in this world, let us thank God for the opportunity to imitate and follow Him in dying to this world, so that we may rise with Him in eternal glory.

May the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspire, guide, and protect us.

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