Overview:

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

A Reflection for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (Jn 3:13-15)

Find today’s readings here.

I was nervous to kiss his feet. Good Friday, late 90s. I was a child attending Good Friday service in the rural, carpeted church where I was baptized. But I watched the rows of people in front of me all get up, make their way to the cross at the foot of the altar, bend down and touch their lips to Jesus’ feet. 

I do not think I was concerned about germs. Where was my dis-ease coming from? Maybe it is because it happens only once a year, that this act felt out of place. Even though every single person in the church was doing it, kissing the feet of a bloodied statue felt weird. 

It is weird. The cross should be a symbol of shame and sadness and torture. Today, it is emblazoned on t-shirts and pick up trucks and tattooed on skin. It is worn as jewelry and knelt before. It is, as today’s feast says, exalted. And this is weird. 

There was a processional cross in college, which depicted a Jesus with his arms being lifted up, that my friends and I jokingly called a “resurrection stick,” as it did not, in fact, feature a cross. I understand the sentiment behind these types of artistic renditions, and agree with the general idea that we do not focus enough on the resurrection, but I also believe that any resurrection spirituality without the cross will be found wanting. 

We need the cross. Not just the literal, actual cross upon which Jesus hung. We need the symbol of the cross. 

Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P., wrote a million words about Jesus, including these: “For as long as salvation and peace are still not actual realities, hope for them must be attested and above all nourished and kept alive, and this is only possible in anticipatory symbols…. Here the cross is the symbol of resistance to death…the consequence of the message of a God who is concerned with man.” 

The cross is an electric chair, and the cross is a throne. It is a scandal and a stumbling block. It is a symbol that has been reproduced so many times that for some it has lost its power. For others in the middle of suffering, it is a love letter that says I know your pain and a promise that says it will not end here. 

The cross is a contradiction. Exalting it is weird. And it is necessary. 

Zac Davis is an associate editor and the senior director for digital strategy for America. He also co-hosts the podcast, Jesuitical.