Feast of
the Exultation of the Holy Cross
(Numbers 4b-9; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17)
Stauros is the word for cross in Greek. In New Testament usage the word means only a
stake in the ground. Where the gospels
say that Jesus carries his cross (with the help of Simon in Matthew, Mark, and
Luke), readers should imagine the crossbeam that will be attached to the
stake. The stake with crossbeam has the
form of an elongated “t” in the popular imagination because Matthew’s gospel
mentions that the sign identifying Jesus was placed above his head.
This shape
has been given significance. It marks
transcendence. The life of Jesus and, by
reason of today’s gospel passage, those who believe in him are not limited to
the horizons of natural life. Their
destinies reach beyond the natural world in the eternities of the heavens. Of course, this is represented by the
vertical line shooting beyond the horizontal line. Interestingly, this image of transcendence is
distorted in the swastika which bends the cross on itself to signify no eternal
destiny.
The cross
itself merits meditation which might be considered the purpose of today’s
feast. But Catholics generally think of
the cross with the corpus of Jesus attached.
His passion and death seals the meaning of the cross. He is God, the eternal Son of the Father, who
twice humbled himself – in the Incarnation and the Crucifixion – so that we
might live with him in eternal happiness.
