Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Scripture Readings
First Numbers 21:4b-9
Second Philippians 2:6-11
Gospel John 3:13-17

Prepared by: Fr. James Cuddy, O.P.

1. Subject Matter
• The Church celebrates the work accomplished on the Holy Cross. This Cross has
transformed the earthly crosses that are present in ordinary life. Uniting one’s sufferings to
the Cross of Christ gives them salvific value as well. This is made clear in the Opening
Prayer. “We acknowledge the mystery of the cross on earth May we receive the gift of
redemption in heaven.”
• The Cross shows the Father’s love for man in a most eminent way.
• The Cross is a sign of contradiction, a stage on which seemingly irreconcilable opposites are
brought together. The Preface says as much: “Father, . . . You decreed that man should be
saved through the wood of the cross. The tree of man's defeat became his tree of victory;
where life was lost, there life has been restore through Christ our Lord.”

2. Exegetical Notes
• First Reading & Gospel: The OT account to which Christ alludes is, of course, the one
found in today’s first reading. A midrashic account of this story is found in Wisdom 16:6-8:
“But as a warning, for a short time they were terrorized, though they had a sign of salvation,
to remind them of the precept of your law. For he who turned toward it was saved, not by
what he saw, but by you, the savior of all. And by this also you convinced our foes that you
are he who delivers from all evil.”
• Second Reading: The same word, “form” (morphe), is used to describe both his divinity and
his condition as a slave. He was not a slave in appearance only, but actually took on this
lowly state. As such, he forfeits his human rights and is entirely dependant on the will of his
master. He went from the absolute highest to the absolute lowest, and what more – he chose
to do so. “He is both the subject and object of the verb” (Sacra Pagina).
• Gospel: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son . . . “The result clause is in the
indicative – the only time in John. The classical use of this construction is for the purpose of
stressing the reality of the result: that he actually gave the only Son” (Anchor Bible).
3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church
• 472 The Son of God could, when he became man, “increase in wisdom and in stature, and in
favor with God and man,” and would even have to inquire for himself about what one in the
human condition can learn only from experience. This corresponded to the reality of his
voluntary emptying of himself, taking “the form of a slave.”
• 908 By his obedience unto death, Christ communicated to his disciples the gift of royal
freedom, so that they might by the self-abnegation of a holy life, overcome the reign of sin in
themselves.
• 411 The Christian tradition sees in [the Protoevangelium] an announcement of the “New
Adam” who, because he “became obedient unto death, even death on a cross”, makes
amends superabundantly for the disobedience of Adam.
• 440 Jesus unveiled the authentic content of his messianic kingship both in the transcendent
identity of the Son of Man "who came down from heaven", and in his redemptive mission as
the suffering Servant: "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his
life as a ransom for many." Hence the true meaning of his kingship is revealed only when he
is raised high on the cross.
• 661 Only the one who "came from the Father" can return to the Father: Christ Jesus . . . Left
to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the "Father's house", to God's
life and happiness. Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might
have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us.
• 458 The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love.
• 679 Christ is Lord of eternal life. Full right to pass definitive judgment on the works and
hearts of men belongs to him as redeemer of the world. He acquired this right by his cross.

4. Patristic Commentary
• St. Augustine: “Jesus Christ is the stable principle and fixed centre of the mission that God
himself has entrusted to man. We must all share in this mission and concentrate all our
forces on it, since it is more necessary than ever for modern mankind. If this mission seems
to encounter greater opposition nowadays than ever before, this shows that today it is more
necessary than ever and, in spite of the opposition, more awaited than ever. Here we touch
indirectly on the mystery of the divine ‘economy’ which linked salvation and grace with the
Cross.”
• St. Ephrem the Syrian: “"The trees of the Garden of Eden were given as food to the first
Adam. For us, the gardener of the Garden in person made himself food for our souls. Indeed,
we had all left Paradise together with Adam, who left it behind him. Now that the sword has
been removed here below on the Cross, replaced by the spear, we can return to it."
• St. John Chrysostom: “The cross is the will of the Father, the glory of the Son, the rejoicing
of the Spirit, the boast of Paul. . . . The cross is that which is brighter than the sun, more
brilliant than the sunbeam: for when the sun is darkened then the cross shines brightly: and
the sun is darkened not because it is extinguished, but because it is overpowered by the
brilliancy of the cross. The cross has broken our bond; it has made the prison of death
 ineffectual, it is the demonstration of the love of God. The cross is the impregnable wall, the
invulnerable shield, the safeguard of the rich, the resource of the poor, the defense of those
who are exposed to snares, the armor of those who are attacked, the means of suppressing
passion, and of acquiring virtue.

5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars

• Pope John Paul II: “The Cross is the most profound condescension of God to man . . . The
Cross is like a touch of eternal love upon the most painful wounds of man’s existence.”
• St. Catherine of Siena: O inestimable, sweetest charity! You have torn up the bond between
man and the devil. You have torn it to pieces on the wood of the holy Cross. A bond is made
by nothing but lamb and this is the immaculate Lamb who inscribed us on himself. But he
tore up this bond.
• C.S. Lewis: “Christian doctrines are translations into our concepts and ideas of that which
God has already expressed in language more adequate, namely the actual incarnation,
crucifixion, and resurrection.”
• John Henry Cardinal Newman: “Consummatum est. It is completed -- it has come to a full
end. The mystery of God's love toward us is accomplished. The price is paid, and we are
redeemed. The Eternal Father determined not to pardon us without a price, in order to show
us especial favor. He condescended to make us valuable to Him. What we buy we put a
value on. He might have saved us without a price --- by the mere fiat of His will. But to show
His love for us He took a price, which, if there was to be a price set upon us at all, if there
was any ransom at all to be taken for the guilt of our sins, could be nothing short of the death
of His Son in our nature. O my God and Father, Thou hast valued us so much as to pay the
highest of all possible prices for our sinful souls -- and shall we not love and choose Thee
above all things as the one necessary and one only good?”
• St. Teresa Benedicta: “The Savior hangs before you with a pierced heart. He has spilled his
heart's blood to win your heart. . . . The arms of the Crucified are spread out to draw you to
his heart. He wants your life in order to give you his. Ave Crux, Spes unica!”

6. Quotations from Pope Benedict XVI

• “Today what people have in view us eliminating suffering from the world. For the individual,
that means avoiding pain and suffering in whatever way. Yet we must also see that it is in
this very way that the world becomes very hard and very cold. Pain is part of being human.
Anyone who really wanted to get rid of suffering would have to get rid of love before anything
else, because there can be no love without suffering, because it always demands an element
of self-sacrifice, because, given temperamental differences and the drama of situations, it will
always bring with it renunciation and pain.”
• If Christ had not died on the Cross, “man would have no access to God. He would only be
able to relate to God in occasional fragmentary attempts. And, in the end, he would not know
who or what God actually is.”
• "What looks down to us from the Cross is a goodness that enables a new beginning in the
midst of life’s horror. The goodness of God himself looks on us, God who surrenders himself
into our hands, delivers himself to us, forcing us to look at the dangerousness of man and all
 his heinous deeds and at the same time makes us look upon God, who is stronger in his
weakness, and upon the fact that we are loved by God. It is in this sense a sign of
forgiveness and hope…God is crucified and says to us that this God who is apparently so
weak is the God who incomprehensively forgives us.”

7. Other Considerations
• There is some tension between John’s assertion that God did not send his Son into the world
for condemnation (3:17; cf. 12:47) and his later contention that Christ “came into the world for
judgment” (9:39; cf. 5:22). Brown suggests the following distinction: “He who refuses to
believe in Jesus condemns himself, while he who believes escapes condemnation” (AB).
Christ’s presence forces man to a decision either to accept him or reject him, and the choice
brings with it consequences.

Recommended Resources
B.B. Thurston & J.M. Ryan, Philippians & Philemon. Sacra Pagina Series, Vol. 10: Daniel J
Harrington, ed. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2005.
Stephen K. Ray, St. John’s Gospel: A Bible Study Guide and Commentary. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press, 2002.
Raymond Brown, Joseph Fitzmyer, and Roland Murphy, The Jerome Biblical Commentary. Two
Vols. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.