The exaltation of the holy Cross makes us know an aspect of his heart that only God himself could reveal to us: the wound caused by sin and ingratitude of man becomes the source, not only of an overabundance of love, but also of a new creation in glory. Through the folly of the Cross, the scandal of suffering can become wisdom, and the glory promised to Jesus can be shared by all those who wished to follow him. Death, illness, the multiple wounds that man receives in the flesh and in the heart, all this becomes, for the frail creature, an opportunity to let themselves be taken more intensely by the very life of God.

With this feast the Church invites us to receive this divine wisdom, which Mary has fully lived beneath the Cross: the suffering of the world, madness and scandal, becomes, in the blood of Christ, a cry of love and seed of glory for each of us.

✠ Most Reverend Peter Baldacchino, Bishop of Las Cruces

Hymn: “Hail, Cross All-Holy”

Words: Venantius Fortunatus (6th century)

Translation: © 2021, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL).