Category: Feasts

Reflections on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Fr. Kurt Belsole, OSB

September 14, 2008

Today’s feast, which we share with Orthodox Christians, commemorates the finding of the true Cross by St. Helena on September 14, 320 and the consecration of the church of the Holy Sepulcher at Jerusalem.

Just as Holy Thursday is so great a feast with so much to celebrate that it gives rise to the additional solemnity of Corpus Christi, the same is true of Good Friday, there is too much to celebrate for the mystery of redemption wrought through Christ and his Cross to be confined to a single day.  So, in a sense, today is a little Good Friday, the day when Christ’s sacrifice on the cross triumphs over the powers of hell, and the devil who had conquered by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is himself conquered by the tree of the cross. 

Orthodox Christians in Greece even celebrate this feast by observing the Good Friday fast.  A number of years ago, when asked about how they could celebrate a feast by fasting, the Orthodox Archbishop of Volos replied and said that it is a matter of the heart.  They could not celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross without entering into the mystery of the cross by the Good Friday fast.

In terms of natural sacredness and Christian liturgy, it is worth noting that we are entering now into a period of autumn, and the days are already becoming noticeably shorter.  Good Friday is a feast of springtime when the light clearly triumphs over darkness.  Now as we approach the beginning of autumn, the Cross of Christ is raised against the encroaching darkness so that in the radiance of Christ and his Cross even night becomes as day.

It is helpful also to note that first antiphon for today’s Office of Readings: “Ecce crucem Domini; fugite, partes adversae; vicit leo de tribu Iuda, radix David, alleluia” (Behold the cross of the Lord!  Flee, ye, hostile powers!  The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered. Alleluia) is engraved on the base of the obelisk in the center of Saint Peter’s Square; and what was once a sign of pagan worship is now surmounted by the cross.

In fact, the obelisk in the center of Saint Peter’s Square in Rome, after it had been exorcized, was erected on that site on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14, 1586.

Pontifical North American College

Feast of Saint Luke

Rev. Kurt Belsole, OSB

October 18, 2018

One of the things that they say you should never do—is ask a doctoral student how his dissertation is going—the reason is because he will tell you—and then you will be subjected to information overload—and your eyes will glaze over—and you will bitterly regret your question—and you will wonder how you can change the subject—while all of the time you are trying to look interested—before the whole meal is ruined.

But the reason that the doctoral student will be so excited about what he is researching and writing is because he loves his topic—at least, I loved mine—and still do—the doctoral student—if he is really in to what he is doing, will spend a good deal of his waking hours researching, reading, making connections—and being surprised at times—and then writing about what he has found.

I say that because the feast that we are celebrating today reminds me of the beginning of Saint Luke’s gospel—Saint Luke—who was an evangelist, but not an apostle—not one who spent the years of Jesus’ public ministry with him—Saint Luke who had been a pagan, and was, in a certain sense an outsider, writes at the beginning of his gospel:

Many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events which have been fulfilled in our midst, precisely as those events were transmitted to us by the original eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. I too have carefully traced the whole sequence of events from the beginning, and have decided to set it in writing for you Theophilus, so that Your Excellency may see how reliable the instruction was that you received.

Saint Luke, as he says, carefully traces the whole sequence of events and compiles a narrative of the events precisely as those events were transmitted.

It sounds a bit like writing a doctoral dissertation, which ideally is loved. Saint Luke must have loved very much that Jesus Christ whom the met and to whom he was converted—enough not only to have written his Gospel but also the Acts of the Apostles. It was an incredible amount of work.

This evening, I would like to take a look at just one small part of the gospel that we heard today from Saint Luke and reflect on it:

In the gospel this evening, we heard that the Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.

I would propose for your reflection that the place that Jesus intends to visit is not geographical—but personal. He visits—not just villages in Judea or Galilee—rather, and more importantly, he intends to visit the human heart and because of the indwelling Trinity that we receive at baptism—he intends not just to visit, but to dwell there.

It is the heart that he visits and it is in the heart that he dwells—in the Jewish sense—where we think—and where we exercise our will—it is the heart that Jesus intends to visit and, indeed, to dwell within.

At the end of the story of the birth of the Messiah, and after the shepherds return to their flocks, St. Luke writes in his gospel that Mary treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart—and the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen (Lk 2:19-20).

And when Jesus was found as a twelve-year old boy teaching the teachers in the temple, he went down to Nazareth and was obedient to Mary and Joseph—and again, Luke writes that Mary kept all of these things in her heart (Lk. 2:51). Mary thought a lot about her Son—and frequently.

Or as the Lord calls us to live in what the Fathers of the Church call purity of heart, St. Luke reminds us that a good man produces goodness from the good in his heart; and evil man produces evil out of his store of evil. Each man speaks from his heart’s abundance (Lk. 6:45).

And finally, there is the parable of the Good Samaritan, which begins with the Lord saying that you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself (Lk. 10:27).

And then immediately after that, we have the parable of the Good Samaritan. When I hear this parable, I can only ever think of the great interpretation of Christ himself as the Good Samaritan—which was used in the Church already in the second century—and which Saint Ambrose in his Commentary on the Gospel of Luke writes—when he asks about who showed himself to be neighbor to the man who fell among robbers—and he answers: the one who came close to him—in Latin, the one who made himself the traveler’s  proximus—the proximus—his neighbor—the one who came close to him—referring to the Son of God who came into our world—to make himself close to us—even in our difficulties as the Psalmist says: The Lord is close to the broken-hearted, and those whose spirit is crushed, he will save (Ps. 34:19).

Returning to today’s gospel: Jesus sent out the seventy-two—and we pray that he send us out as well—and we pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood—that the Lord send out more laborers for his harvest—that he may not only visit—but that he may dwell in the hearts of all.

St. Luke, pray for us.