The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

 
In latin Exaltatio Sanctae Crucis, which literally translates to "Raising Aloft of the Holy Cross"


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Feast Day
September 14


 

 

We honor the Holy Cross by which Christ redeemed the world on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (or Triumph of the Cross). The veneration of the Cross of Christ originated from end fourth century based on early records. The cross was a discovered by Saint Helena the mother of Constantine, on September 14, 326 during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her pilgrimage was to excavate the Holy Sepulchre and attempt to locate the True Cross. A Jew named of Judas, led those excavating the Holy Sepulchre to the spot in which it was hidden.Therefore, her discovery is the origin of the tradition of celebration of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was later built by Constantine in the year 335 on the site where the cross was discovered on Mount Calvary.  The feast is celebrate two days, 13 and 14 September, because the actual consecration of the church was on September 13 but the cross itself was brought outside the church on September 14 so that all could pray before the True Cross, and venerate it. At the same point of time, she also ordered two other churches built. One located in Bethlehem near the Grotto of the Nativity and the other on the Mount of the Ascension, near Jerusalem.

 

 

The feast also known as feast of  the "Exaltation of the Precious and Life-creating Cross", the feast of the "Glorious Cross"  

 

 

Adoramus te, christe, et benedicimus tibi,
quia per crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee,
for by thy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

 

Prayer Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Jesus, Who because of Your burning love for us willed to be crucified and to shed Your Most Precious Blood for the redemption and salvation of our souls, look down upon us and grant the petition we ask for ... (mention here)

We trust completely in Your Mercy

Cleanse us from sin by Your Grace
Sanctify our work
Give us and all those who are dear to us our daily bread
Lighten the burden of our sufferings
Bless our families

And grant to the nations, so sorely afflicted, Your Peace, which is the only true peace, so that by obeying Your Commandments we may come at last to the glory of Heaven.
Amen

Reading, Psalm and Gospel for Friday, 14 September 2012

First reading
Numbers 21: 4 - 9

4	From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient on the way.
5	And 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 loathe this worthless food."
6	Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
7	And the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
8	And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."
9	So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38

1	Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2	I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
34	When he slew them, they sought for him; they repented and sought God earnestly.
35	They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.
36	But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.
37	Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not true to his covenant.
38	Yet he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often, and did not stir up all his wrath.

Second reading
Philippians 2:6-11

6	who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7	but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8	And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
9	Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,
10	that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11	and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Gospel
John 3:13-17

13	No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.
14	And 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, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17	For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Jesus dies upon the Cross
Meditation on the Twelfth Station by John Henry Cardinal Newman

"Consummatum est." It is completed — it has come to a full end. The mystery of God's love toward us is acomplished. The price is paid, and we are redeemed. The Eternal Father determined not to pardon us without a price, in order to show us especial favor. He condescended to make us valuable to Him. What we buy we put a value on. He might have saved us without a price — by the mere fiat of His will. But to show His love for us He took a price, which, if there was to be a price set upon us at all, if there was any ransom at all to be taken for the guilt of our sins, could be nothing short of the death of His Son in our nature. O my God and Father, Thou hast valued us so much as to pay the highest of all possible prices for our sinful souls — and shall we not love and choose Thee above all things as the one necessary and one only good?