Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, honouring the Cross on which Jesus Christ gave his life for the salvation of the world.

The origins of today’s feast are closely connected with Jerusalem. In the fourth century, Saint Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, travelled to the Holy Land and, according to ancient tradition, discovered the Cross of Christ during excavations near the site of his Crucifixion and burial.

Constantine ordered the construction of a great church on the site. The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre was dedicated in September 335 and became one of Christianity’s most important places of pilgrimage.

By the end of the fourth century, we have eyewitness accounts of Christians in Jerusalem venerating the wood believed to be from the Cross. Pilgrims approached it with profound reverence, bowing before and kissing the Cross as they remembered Christ’s Passion and death.

The feast later took on further significance following the recovery of the relic of the Cross from the Persians by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in the seventh century. Tradition recalls that, as Heraclius sought to carry the Cross into Jerusalem dressed in his imperial robes, he was unable to proceed until he removed the signs of his earthly status and continued as a humble pilgrim.

The Cross stands at the very heart of our Christian faith. Once an instrument of suffering and death, through Christ it has become the sign of God’s love, our redemption and the victory of life over death.

Today we do not exalt suffering itself. We exalt Christ, who freely embraced the Cross for us and transformed it forever into a sign of hope.

As we look upon the Cross, may we remember the depth of God’s love for each of us and renew our commitment to follow Christ faithfully.

✝We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.