Look at the Cross

Homily for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Different religious cultures around the world have different symbols that connect earthly believers to the heavens. Jewish culture remembers the ladder of Jacob who saw angels ascending and descending as he dreamed. The Christian culture crowned their churches with elaborate spires that reach to the heavens above. North American Natives used their totem poles to connect them to the spirit world. Roman Catholics around the world keep a crucifix in every church and in almost every home to remind them that Jesus reconciled us with God by dying on the cruelest instrument of torture known throughout the Roman Empire. We sign ourselves with the cross at the beginning of every prayer. Babies are brought to the Church where the minister of Baptism traces a cross on the forehead of the child and asks the child’s parents and godparents to do the same. All of the sacraments of the Catholic faith include the sign of the cross in their celebration. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a feast of the Lord that falls on September 14 every year.

Most of you have probably heard of the great theological work written by St. Thomas Aquinas entitled “Summa Theologica.” What most people do not know is that this great work of St. Thomas was never finished.

St. Thomas had various spiritual experiences and periods of ecstasy during his lifetime. One day when he was meditating before an icon of the crucified Christ, he had a vision of Jesus who said to him: “You have written well of me, Thomas. What reward would you have for your labor?" Thomas responded, "Nothing but you, Lord."

On December 6, 1273, another mystical experience took place. While Thomas was celebrating Mass, he experienced an unusually long ecstasy. Because of what he saw, he abandoned his routine and refused to dictate to his socius (companion) Reginald of Piperno. When Reginald begged him to get back to work, Thomas replied: "Reginald, I cannot, because all that I have written seems like so much straw to me when compared to the love expressed by Jesus’ death on the cross.” As a result, the Summa Theologica would remain uncompleted.

A year later, Pope Gregory X summoned Thomas to attend the Second Council of Lyons in which he hoped to heal the Great Schism of 1054, which had divided the Catholic Church in the West from the Greek Orthodox Church. On his way to the council, riding on a donkey along the Appian Way, Thomas struck his head on the branch of a fallen tree and became seriously ill. He was taken to a Benedictine monastery to rest and recover from his accident. The monks nursed him for several days to no avail, and as he received the last rites he prayed: "I have written and taught much about this very holy Body, and about the other sacraments in the faith of Christ, and about the Holy Roman Church, to whose correction I expose and submit everything I have written." He died a few days later on March 7, 1274.

As we celebrate this Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, I am reminded of St. Thomas’s statement about the love that the crucified Jesus expresses on the cross. I am also reminded of a poem by an unknown author entitled, “Look at the Cross.” As I recite this poem, I suggest that you turn your eyes to the large crucifix that hangs on the wall to my right.

Look at the Cross
Author Unknown

If you would like to know God, look at the cross.
If you would like to love God, look at the cross.
If you would like to serve God, look at the cross.
If you hope for eternal happiness, look at the cross.
If you wonder how much you are worth, look at the cross.
If you wonder how much God loves you, look at the cross.
If you wonder how much God tries to prevent you from the yawning jaws of Hell, look at the cross.
If you wonder how much God will help you to save your immortal soul, look at the cross.
If you wonder how much you should forgive others, look at the cross.
If you wonder how much your faith demands of you, in humility, poverty, charity, meekness, and every virtue, look at the cross.
If you want to learn unselfishness and generosity, look at the cross.
If you wonder how far your own unselfishness should go to bring others to Christ, look at the cross.
If you want to understand the need for self-denial and mortification, look at the cross.
If you wish to live well, look at the cross.
If you wish to die well, look at the cross.