Fr. Jerome Pistoni sx
EXALTATION OF THE CROSS 14th September 2025
Exaltation, Triumph of the cross: these words look normal for us today. The cross is the symbol of the victory of Jesus over death. We start our prayers with the sign of the cross. The crosses are hanged in public buildings, they are used as neck-lace chains to decorate ourselves, but the first Christians waited three hundred years before using them as an icon representing their faith. For three hundred years the Christians preferred to use other symbols to show their faith: the bread, the fish, the good shepherd and others.
The cross was, for them, the symbol of defeat, humiliation and death, a shameful image that must be hidden.
Saint Paul wrote in the first letter to the Corinthians:
“While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom,
here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” (1:23-24)
What is the Cross for us?
For many saints it was a book that inspired them to live deeply their Christian vocation.
Saint Conforti felt the call to become a priest and later a missionary by contemplating the crucifix.
What do we see when we contemplate with faith and love the cross?
First of all, we see hatred. Some people refuse to hung crucifixes in the class rooms because they believe that image of that man, half naked and full of blood could traumatise the pupils. We cannot deny that the first sight of the crucifix calls to our mind pain and hatred.
If Christ hung on the cross full of blood and in great pain it is because somebody nailed him there, somebody who did not feel compassion for another human being, somebody ready to inflict the worst torments to another person without feeling any sense of remorse.
How can human heart become so hard and insensitive?
Human beings, can be very cruel to other people. Hatred can unleash terrible behaviours against others that provoke great suffering. We are warned. If we do not control our instincts we can do the same, with our words and our actions, to those who are near to us.
The other side of the cross, the most important, is love. God loved us so much that he gave his only son to save us.
The love of Christ remained steady in spite of the ungratefulness of men. This love is stronger than pain and rejection.
One saint wrote at the foot of the cross: “this is the way God loves”.
If we contemplate the cross, we will feel the strength of this love and it will inject in us the desire to imitate him.
That is why the cross is not a shame, it is a triumph. It is the victory of love over revenge, violence and hatred. On the cross the glory of God was revealed. In Christ crucified we see the real face of God, A God who love us so much that he is ready even to die for us. Let us therefore not only wear the cross, but contemplate it in order to feel the love of God and to imitate Him.
EXALTATION OF THE CROSS 14th September 2025
Exaltation, Triumph of the cross: these words look normal for us today. The cross is the symbol of the victory of Jesus over death. We start our prayers with the sign of the cross. The crosses are hanged in public buildings, they are used as neck-lace chains to decorate ourselves, but the first Christians waited three hundred years before using them as an icon representing their faith. For three hundred years the Christians preferred to use other symbols to show their faith: the bread, the fish, the good shepherd and others.
The cross was, for them, the symbol of defeat, humiliation and death, a shameful image that must be hidden.
Saint Paul wrote in the first letter to the Corinthians:
“While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom,
here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” (1:23-24)
What is the Cross for us?
For many saints it was a book that inspired them to live deeply their Christian vocation.
Saint Conforti felt the call to become a priest and later a missionary by contemplating the crucifix.
What do we see when we contemplate with faith and love the cross?
First of all, we see hatred. Some people refuse to hung crucifixes in the class rooms because they believe that image of that man, half naked and full of blood could traumatise the pupils. We cannot deny that the first sight of the crucifix calls to our mind pain and hatred.
If Christ hung on the cross full of blood and in great pain it is because somebody nailed him there, somebody who did not feel compassion for another human being, somebody ready to inflict the worst torments to another person without feeling any sense of remorse.
How can human heart become so hard and insensitive?
Human beings, can be very cruel to other people. Hatred can unleash terrible behaviours against others that provoke great suffering. We are warned. If we do not control our instincts we can do the same, with our words and our actions, to those who are near to us.
The other side of the cross, the most important, is love. God loved us so much that he gave his only son to save us.
The love of Christ remained steady in spite of the ungratefulness of men. This love is stronger than pain and rejection.
One saint wrote at the foot of the cross: “this is the way God loves”.
If we contemplate the cross, we will feel the strength of this love and it will inject in us the desire to imitate him.
That is why the cross is not a shame, it is a triumph. It is the victory of love over revenge, violence and hatred. On the cross the glory of God was revealed. In Christ crucified we see the real face of God, A God who love us so much that he is ready even to die for us. Let us therefore not only wear the cross, but contemplate it in order to feel the love of God and to imitate Him.