A Sign of Triumph

Homily for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

In the early days of the Christian community, the sign that was used to indicate a person who was following Jesus was the loaves and fishes. Early Christians were very reluctant, hesitant to use the cross as a symbol; the shame of such a death was so strong in their culture that to glory in it, to emphasize that the triumph came through that suffering and ignominy was almost unthinkable. In fact, the genesis of the Christian Scriptures was brought about by questions regarding how God could have asked Jesus to accept death on a cross.

Perhaps the most recognizable passage from the Christian Scriptures that first recognized the death of Jesus on a cross is found in St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. This passage is known as the “Carmen Christi” or song of Christ. It is thought that these verses were taken directly from a hymn that Christians sang as they celebrated the Eucharist. However, it is clear that St. Paul made two changes to these verses: the phrase “even death on a cross,” is one of those changes. Scholars have identified this phrase as an emendation of the original hymn by the fact that it changes the meter of the hymn. St. Paul was the first to recognize that the death of Jesus was in fact a triumph rather than a failure, a triumph which eventually gave birth to the ability of Christians to celebrate and exalt the cross.

However, it still took several centuries before Christians were able to depict the corpse of Jesus on a cross. Earliest examples of crucifixes portrayed Jesus as alive and enthroned on the cross, often wearing a crown. It was not until the thirteenth century that artists began to depict Jesus as dead on the cross.

As we all know, St. Francis was also lived in the thirteenth century. After his conversion, it was his practice to spend several hours after noon meditating upon two central mysteries; namely the humility of the Incarnation and the charity of the cross. It was during one of these afternoon meditations that Francis was marked with the wounds of the crucifixion.

By the time that the Gospel of St. John was written, the Christian community had come to realize that death on the cross was an act of love which the Father asked of his only begotten Son. Rather than looking upon it as a sign of condemnation, it was looked upon as a sign of salvation. This is how we have come to celebrate this mystery on this Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The way of Christ, the way of humility and nonviolence, now stands as a sign of genuine victory. However, though we Christians can celebrate Christ’s death on the cross as a sign of our salvation, the human race has not yet learned the lesson that it teaches. Only in the humbling way of suffering, sickness perhaps, or disappointment, even death, will we reach the triumph of the resurrection; for the resurrection can only happen after we have experienced Calvary.

Sharing Christ’s body and blood in this banquet at the altar, we are given the strength to share daily in this cross and through that in his triumph.