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Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Sept 14)

September 14, 2025

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.

INTROIT

COLLECT

O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son
should undergo the Cross to save the human race,
grant, we pray,
that we, who have known his mystery on earth,
may merit the grace of his redemption in heaven.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

FIRST READING Numbers 21:4b-9

The Israelites set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but they became impatient on the way. 5 The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” 6 Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38

SECOND READING Philippians 2:6-11

Though Christ Jesus was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

ALLELUIA

GOSPEL John 3:13-17

Jesus said to Nicodemus: 13 “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

CATENA NOVA

This kind of death is more glorious than a crown. Certainly, kings have laid aside their crowns and taken up the cross, the symbol of his death. On their purple robes is the cross, on their crowns is the cross, at their public prayers is the cross, on their weapons is the cross, on the sacred table of their altar is the cross. Everywhere in the world, the cross shines forth more brightly than the sun. “And his resting place shall be glorious.” (St. John Chrysostom)

As they were looking on, so we too gaze on His Wounds as He hangs. We see His Blood as He dies. We see the price offered by the Redeemer, touch the scars of His Resurrection. He bows His Head, as if to kiss you. His Heart is made bare, open, as it were, in love to you. His arms are extended that He may embrace you. His whole body is displayed for your redemption. Ponder how great these things are. Let all this be rightly weighed in your mind, as He was once fixed to the Cross in every part of His Body for you, so He may now be fixed in every part of your soul! (St Augustine of Hippo)

The Kingdom of Heaven, says the Gospel, is like a mustard seed … Christ is the Kingdom of Heaven! Sown like a mustard seed in the garden of the Virgin’s womb, He grew up into the Tree of the Cross, whose branches, stretch across the world … Christ is the Kingdom because all the glory of His Kingdom, is within Him. Christ is a Man because all humanity is restored in Him. Christ is a Mustard Seed because the infinitude of Divine greatness, is accommodated to the littleness of flesh and blood! (St. Peter Chrysologus)

On the forehead, and on the eyes, and on the mouth, and on the breasts let us place the life-giving Cross. Let us arm them with the invincible armor of Christians, with this hope of the faithful, with this gentle light. Let us open paradise with this armor, with this support of the orthodox faith, with this saving praise of the Church. Neither in one hour, nor in one instant, let us not forget the Cross, nor let us begin to do anything without it. But let us sleep, let us arise, let us work, let us eat, let us drink, let us go on our way, let us sail on the seas, let us go across the river, let us adorn all our members with the life-giving Cross. And let us not be frightened 'by the terror of the night, nor by the arrow that flies by day, nor by anything roaming in darkness, nor by any calamity, nor any noonday demon' (Ps. 90:5, 6). If, O Christian, you will always take up the Cross of Christ on yourself as a help, then 'evil shall not come towards you, nor any scourge come near your habitation': for the opposition power seeing it trembles and leaves. (St. Ephrem the Syrian)

The tree of life which was planted by God in Paradise pre-figured this honorable Cross. For since death was by a tree, it was fitting that life and resurrection should be bestowed by a tree. Jacob, when He worshipped the top of Joseph’s staff, was the first to image the Cross, and when he blessed his sons with crossed hands, he made most clearly the sign of the cross. Likewise also did Moses’ rod, when he smote the sea in the figure of the cross and saved Israel, while it overwhelmed Pharaoh in the depths; likewise also the hands stretched out crosswise and routing Amalek; and the bitter water made sweet by a tree, and the rock rent and pouring forth streams of water, and the rod that meant for Aaron the dignity of the high priesthood, and the serpent lifted in triumph on a tree as though it were dead, the tree bringing salvation to those who in faith saw their enemy dead, just as Christ was nailed to the tree in the flesh of sin which yet knew no sin. The mighty Moses cried, "You will see your life hanging on a tree before your eyes, and Isaiah likewise, I have spread out my hands all the day unto a faithless and rebellious people." But may we who worship this obtain a part in Christ the crucified. Amen. (St. John of Damascus)

When my Son was lifted up on the wood of the most holy cross he did not cut off his divinity from the lowly earth of your humanity. So though he was raised so high, he was not raised off the earth. In fact, his divinity is kneaded in the clay of your humanity like one bread. Nor could anyone walk on that bridge until my Son was raised up. This is why he said, “If I am lifted up high I will draw everything to myself” (John 13:32). When my goodness saw that you could be drawn in no other way, I sent him to be lifted onto the wood of the cross. I made of that cross an anvil where this child of humankind could be hammered into an instrument to release humankind from death and restore it to the life of grace. In this way he drew everything to himself: for he proved his unspeakable love, and the human heart is always drawn by love. He could not have shown you greater love than by giving his life for you (John 15:13). You can hardly resist being drawn by love, then, unless you foolishly refuse to be drawn.

I said that, having been raised up, he would draw everything to himself. This is true in two ways: First, the human heart is drawn by love as I said, and with all its powers: memory, understanding, and will. If these three powers are harmoniously united in my name, everything else you do, in fact or intention, will be drawn to union with me in peace through the movement of love, because all will be lifted up in the pursuit of crucified love. So my Truth indeed spoke truly when he said, “If I am lifted up high, I will draw everything to myself.” For everything you do will be drawn to him when he draws your heart and its powers. What he said is true also in the sense that everything was created for your use to serve your needs. But you who have the gift of reason were made not for yourselves but for me, to serve me with all your heart and all your love. So when you are drawn to me, everything is drawn with you because everything was made for you. It was necessary, then, that this bridge be raised high. And it had to have stairs so that you would be able to mount it more easily. (St. Catherine of Siena)

"Hail, Cross, our only hope!" this is what the holy church summoned us to exclaim during the time for contemplating the bitter suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. The jubilant exclamation of the Easter Alleluia silenced the serious song of the cross. But the sign of our salvation greeted us amidst the time of Easter joy, since we were recalling the discovery of the one who had passed from sight. At the end of the cycle of ecclesiastical feasts, the cross greets us through the heart of the Savior. And now, as the church year draws toward an end, it is raised high before us and is to hold us spellbound, until the Easter Alleluia summons us anew to forget the earth for a while and to rejoice in the marriage of the Lamb. (St. Edith Stein)

HOMILY

I’m afraid of snakes. I got it from my mother. She wouldn't even look at a snake’s picture. Neither will I. So when I go to a doctor’s office and see a snake wrapped around a pole, I get a little nervous. Ever wonder where that came from? It’s the symbol of the Greek god of medicine, Asclepius. The snakes named after him are harmless. They were kept in the hospital-temples built by the ancient Greeks in honor of the god. That’s why you see them in doctors’ offices and hospitals to this day.

I must confess I always thought the medical profession got its snake from Moses. When the people grumbled against God and against Moses in the desert. And the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. Those snakes weren’t harmless. They were called “saraphs,” which in Hebrew means “the fiery one,” because their bite burned.

Strangely, after the people repented God commanded Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live (Num. 21:5-9).

Now I don’t know about you, but a snake--whether the innocent kind Asceplius carried or the poisonous kind Moses fashioned--a snake isn’t my idea of medicine. Nor, I fear, was the cross. Which, I suppose, is why Jesus compared being lifted up on the cross to Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness (Jn. 3:13). For no one would imagine the cross to be a sign of healing. Much less something that would draw all people to himself (cf. Jn. 12:32). On the contrary, the sight of it would provoke as much terror as any saraph. No wonder Jesus compared the cross to Moses’ serpent on a pole. There was nothing else to suggest such a loathsome thing could save people from perishing.

It reminds me of homeopathy--a Greek word meaning “similar suffering.” Homeopathy is a system of alternative medicine. It’s based on the principle that “like cures like.” So you’re given a very small does of what ails you in order to cure what ails you. Like in the case of Moses, a serpent was just what the doctor ordered to cure a snakebite! It doesn’t seem to make much sense, doesn’t it” Yet, even in Jesus’ case, it was death that healed death--even death on a cross (Phil. 2:8)! Or even more shocking, as Paul says, for our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21).

For God, it seems, is the great homeopath, the One who embraces suffering similar to our own, in Christ who was born in human likeness: “Like curing like” in human form to save human beings; in the form of a slave to free the captive; emptied for the desolate; humbled for the lowly (cf. Phil. 2: 7-8). Yes, like curing like when made God made him who did not know sin, to be sin for the sinner so that the the appearance of sin could cure sin; the appearance of guilt curing the liable; the appearance of condemnation curing the criminal. Like curing like.

And here lies the triumph of the cross: the pain of the world cured by the pain of the cross. Like curing like. Which means my pain, and your pain, can be cured too: Similar suffering cured by similar suffering. If we take the medicine God prescribes, an alternative medicine that doesn’t fit our view of what’s likely to cure us. Like the people who tell me the way to cure my fear of snakes is to begin with drawings, and move to pictures, and then to being in a room with one. When I can see no harm befalls me, they say, the fear gradually fades. It’s called “exposure therapy.” Homeopathy, really: “like curing like.” But I think I’ll pass!

‘Cause it’s easy to miss the mystery. How like cures like, right through the cross, to resurrection. Which reminds me, the myth of Asclepius ends with him being struck dead by one of Zeus’ lightning bolts. Why? Because the God of medicine was raising people from the dead. How unlike the Supreme God of Christian faith who highly exalted [Christ] and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11). Who lives and reigns, forever and ever. Amen.

INTERCESSIONS (Church of England)

Fill with your Spirit Christ’s broken body, the Church …Give to Christian people everywhere a deep longing to take up the cross and to understand its mysterious glory.

Bless those who lead the Church’s worship …In the preaching of the word and the celebration of the sacraments, draw your people close to you.

Give your grace to those who preach your word to the nations …Help us to witness to the faith we have received by our words and in our deeds, and daily conform us more and more to Christ, that we may glory in his cross.

Look in your mercy upon the world you loved so much that you sent your Son to suffer and to die … Strengthen those who work to share the reconciliation won at such a cost upon the cross.

Bring healing by the wounds of Christ to all who are weighed down by pain and injustice … Help the lonely and the betrayed, the suffering and the dying, to find strength in the companionship of Jesus, and in his passion to know their salvation.

Welcome into paradise all who have left this world in your friendship … According to your promises, bring them with all your saints to share in the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Lifted up among us, O God, is Jesus the crucified: sign of your steadfast love and pledge of your will to save. To those who look upon the cross with faith grant healing of soul and life eternal. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. (ICEL; 1998)

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