2025 Exaltation of the Cross
Sunday – 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2025
INTRO:
May I suggest that as when we come together in a EUCHARISTIC liturgy in a church building, we gather as a family, under the wood of the crucifix……….
This CRUCIFIX is the great reminder of how Jesus Christ saved you and me, by his crucifixion and resurrection. It is a constant reminder in every church for everyone who looks upon it that from suffering comes glory and transformation.
For Catholic liturgy and for the art and environment in churches all throughout the world, a CRUCIFIX is most important. You see it everywhere, in every church,
But, not in the Basilica of Saint Peter’s in ROME.
Oh, there are crucifixes there, but the choice to show the CRUCIFIX is through:
MAJOR statues that surrounds the Papal Altar!
Architects and doctors of the church at the time of building and constructing Saint Peter’s in Rome all thought that the way one BRINGS TO LIGHT the holy cross is through PEOPLE and how people (saints) historically revered JESUS and His chosen act of crucifixion.
1. Saint Helena, who brought the true relic of the cross to ROME.
2. Saint Veronica, who wiped the face of Jesus as he carried his cross
3. Saint Andrew, who at the time of his death would not exactly imitate Jesus’ death, but did so being crucified upside down on the cross
And
4. Saint Longinus, a pagan soldier, piercing with a lance, the side of Jesus, as he hung upon the cross, who, because of water flowing from Jesus’ side, then became a Christian.
And now there is US in this church building…………We are the people who surround the ALTAR OF LIFE, revering His cross, by taking up our own crosses.
Carrying our crosses is more than burdens to keep us down, they are opportunities:
• For new life,
• For resurrection for ourselves, and
• For discovering new ways to live.
When we ADMIT having a cross and LOOK UP TO JESUS…. We live!
CONCLUSION:
May God transform our crosses today, to be light and more manageable as we appropriately HIGHLIGHT HIM and the exultation of his holy cross!