"Good Wins, Evil Loses" - Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Homily

It's remarkable that two pieces of wood put together in the form of a T, which we call a cross, can represent so much.

Obviously it represents the platform.

the death of God, the Son of God, the means of His passion and suffering.

caused by evil, bronzed by God.

The first reading we hear about a bronze serpent that God has Moses put on a pole and anyone who had been bitten by the serpent and looked at this bronze serpent lived.

In this case bronze symbolized the power and protection and mercy of God.

Mercy over judgment.

Now Jesus cites this scene in the gospel.

Moses lift up the serpent so the son of man must be lifted up

And God touched the cross of Christ with His power and His mercy.

and salvation for all who have been bitten by sin.

And that's why St.

John writes about God so loved the world, he gave us only son to save us and give us eternal life.

The cross also represents our innocent suffering.

whether caused directly by another or sin in general.

It's our grief.

Our sorrow, our pain of any kind.

You can look up Colossians 1.24 and speaks to this.

That our suffering share the cross of Christ.

Caused by evil, bronzed by God, God touches our suffering.

Our share in the cross

And he does bring good out of it.

He brings triumph.

That's a bold word.

To a church of people.

Suffering, taking up your cross as Jesus said, if you want to follow me, take up your cross.

And so each of us thinking about Colossians 1.24, where that suffering in your life that you didn't ask for, that is weighing you down.

That's a share on the cross.

And like Jesus, we're trying to just get one foot in front the other.

And we're so burdened and crushed and broken.

And the church talks about triumph.

Triumph in looking at a crucifix, triumph in looking at our lives, it's a strong word.

And it is a mystery.

This is something that's hard to preach on because I'm talking to, like preaching the choir, if you will.

We all have our suffering.

And representing the church, I don't know any better than you.

It's a mystery.

All we can do is to try and put some meaning to what God has revealed.

And brothers and sisters, there's a lot in just these readings to explain this word exaltation or triumph of the cross.

When Jesus talks about being lifted up, Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the son of man be lifted up.

Lifted up is rising above the earth, it has an exalted status already.

When we lift up rise to heaven, we are appealing to God's power over that on earth.

Triumphant power, like the first reading.

These very things that were killing people, God uses to bring life.

A Bronze Serpent

When I elevate and lift up the Eucharist and the Consecration, we can think of Jeremiah 20, verse 11, the Lord is with me like a mighty champion.

Jeremiah 20:11

Even just think practically of the Olympics.

The medal winners stand on the platforms raised up in triumph.

Also the second reading, some of you have heard lately, last few Sundays, whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Christ humbles himself, Philippians 2 says, to the point of death, death on a cross, and God greatly exalted him.

And He will greatly exalt any of us who unite our suffering to Jesus.

Intentionally accepting suffering like He did, believing like He did, that God bring good out of it.

The man went to death believing that He would come out alive.

That was the faith of Jesus going into His death.

And in some way you and I have that same faith.

And we can take

not only offering with him, but like him.

He offered up his suffering with an intention.

Big one.

Salvation of the world.

So when we talk about offer it up, that's a thing in the church.

There's things we say, we probably know what it means.

Well, offer it up.

That's what it means.

It's like on the altar of mass, we always have an intention.

We offer mass.

So when we have our altar of life,

and we're offering up our suffering, it should be for an intention.

Just like each of us is going through something right now while we have suffering in the cross, each of us has a major intention.

like Jesus had with his cross.

So offer up your pain and suffering for your kids and really for their salvation.

Redemptive suffering means that through our sharing the cross, we can help bring about the salvation of others, also their happiness, their healing, their joy, and just getting

through their lives well.

Ultimately, the cross is a sign of life.

Mercy.

Victory.

The platform is ultimately the winner's stand, like at the Olympics.

And we stand with Christ in suffering.

then we stand with Him in victory and in triumph, ultimately.

Because in the cross of Christ, the good wins and evil loses.