Exaltation of the Holy Cross – Homily (2025)
Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Numbers 21:4b-9
Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38 (7b)
Philippians 2:6-11
John 3:13-17
September 14, 2025
Our nation experienced another shooting this week. Actually, there were two shootings making the national news on the same day this week.
I want the shootings to stop. I want the wars to stop. I want to save the world. Actually, I know it’s Jesus’ job to save the world, not mine. I’m a messenger, not a savior, but is anyone listening?
My patience has been worn out by so much sin in the world. It’s not just the shootings and the wars. There’s violence that isn’t seen in the taking of lives in the womb and in ending life early.
There are other sins, sins against human sexuality. There is greed. I could go on. There is much sin in the world.
Today is September 14th, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It is one of few feast that triumphs the normal Sunday readings. It is a feast that is much needed as we battle against sin.
The Cross is the place where the war against sin is won. The weapon for the war against sin is not missiles, bombs, or bullets.
The weapon for the war against sin is the Cross. It is Jesus, because of his love for us, who bears the Cross in the war against sin.
Jesus died for you!
Do you get it?
If you do, the Crucifixion of Jesus is a life-changing event. It leads us to hand our lives over to Jesus when we see the Cross for what it is, the love of God.
The Israelites’ patience wore out in the desert and they “complained against God and Moses.” God had sent them free from slavery to Egypt but they became “disgusted with this wretched food.” The wretched food they became disgusted with is the manna that God gave them. It wasn’t good enough for them. They wanted to be saved on their terms. They failed to respond to the gift of manna with gratitude or trust in God.
We see the same thing today. People want to get into Heaven but they want it on their terms. They want to live their lives their way. Some even speak of how they think Heaven should be.
In essence, the Israelites, without necessarily meaning to, rejected God. For this, God withdrew his divine protection and sent the poisonous saraph serpents. The Israelites began to die from the poisonous venom. They repented.
God then told Moses to take one of the saraph serpents and “mount it on a pole.” When they Israelites looked at it, they lived. This was not magic. When they looked at the saraph serpent with faith, they were saved.
Do you trust in God?
When you look at the Cross, do you understand the significance of Jesus’ giving his life so that your sins can be forgiven?
Before the Our Father at Mass, the priest says, “At the Savior’s Command and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say.”
“Dare to say…” In the Lord’s Prayer we say thy kingdom come, thy will be done but do we mean it? Are we really ready to let God be in complete charge of our lives? Are we ready to forgive others who have trespassed against us?
What makes us ready is faith, faith in Jesus Christ, who “was in the form of God” but “did not regard equality with God something to be grasped at.” He is consubstantial with the Father. Yet, instead of being filled with pride, Jesus “emptied himself…he humbled himself becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”
We need to humble ourselves. We need to give our whole lives over to Jesus. We can’t save ourselves. We don’t have to for, “while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
When we look at the Cross, we see God’s love for us. When we see Jesus lifted up on the Cross and raised up in the Resurrection, we see God’s glory.
We are sinners yet God does not want to condemn us. He wants to save us. This is why God the Father sent his Son to die for us, so that we “might have eternal life” and “that the world might be saved through him.”
There is much wrong with the world. There is much sin. Ultimately, the war against sin has been won by Jesus’ Crucifixion. Yet, we continue to struggle against sin. We continue in battle against sin.
Why?
Because we choose to live contrary to God’s way. There are consequences for our choices.
If you want the shootings and wars to end, then choose to build a “culture of life” that respects life from the moment of conception until death so shooters learn to respect life, not end it.
If you want the violence to end, then understand how human sexuality is a gift from God through which a man and a woman united in marriage show their love for one another. Treat other people and yourself as a gift, not an object. Then the shooters may see the dignity of people and not kill them.
If you want the violence to end, listen to our Lord. Stop making up your own truth and embrace the one true truth that Jesus offers as the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6).
Are you tired of suffering? There is value in suffering. Look at the Cross. If Jesus had not suffered, we would not be saved. Ask God for the grace to accept your suffering for the building up on his kingdom.
If you want the world to change, “behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the salvation of the world” and give everything to God.