The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Happy Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross! It falls on a Sunday this year, so it’s the perfect reminder to us of how closely the cross is linked to resurrection, to redemption. This is a feast day that I have come to really appreciate and love in more recent years as I grappled with suffering and tough questions and went deeper on my spiritual journey. Ah, the cross- the unavoidable thing we’d rather avoid!

What interesting timing this feast has this year, as we have witnessed so much heartbreaking tragedy as a country and in local communities lately. Not understanding the cross was the major sticking point on my spiritual journey as I struggled with God over the unfavorable circumstances of my life. The lack of understanding about the cross was the source of so much of my internal pain. I thank God for giving me greater understanding about the cross than I once had, so let me share a little bit of my journey with that, as the cross touches any pain any of us experience- it’s that universal.

It was hard for me to grasp the cross much less swallow that horse pill for a while, because I didn’t get it. I thought the cross glorified pain, and who wants pain? Suffering as love?? Did God just want us to suffer and be miserable? It made it hard for me to see God as a loving Father. I couldn’t accept that, so I fought it. But I couldn’t accept it because I didn’t understand Church teaching on it. Yet any time we walk into a Catholic Church, we see a crucifix predominately displayed on the altar- Jesus hanging to His death. So, it’s pretty important.

What I learned is the love that Jesus poured out for us on that cross. Jesus willfully took upon Himself what we deserved. He suffered terribly out of love for us, to give us a way out from the sin we chose. It wasn’t fair, but love is sacrifice. One of the most important things for me to grasp was the role that suffering has. We want to cut suffering out; God wants to use it. That’s the crux of the matter right there. We recoil from it because it hurts, but Jesus overcame suffering on the cross. I had to come to learn that what God did by overcoming suffering was even greater than if He had eradicated it. We wish God had just eradicated suffering, but He did something much harder and much more powerful than eradicating it- He made it for good. That’s something none of us ever could’ve done. In my humanness I often find myself wishing He had just eradicated suffering instead, because my mind is limited and I’m concerned about my personal comfort in the moment. But He sees much more than that and wants the ultimate good.

Without the crucifixion, there is no resurrection. But suffering is not the end! That’s one of the pieces I didn’t understand for a long time. Suffering isn’t for suffering’s sake. Suffering is the result of sin and brokenness, the result of the fall and of evil in the world. It’s not part of God’s perfect will, but it is allowed under God’s permissive will. The incredibly hopeful thing is that any time God allows bad things under His permissive will, it’s always because He can bring a greater good out of it, thanks to the cross. Because and only because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, our suffering can lead to redemption. God invites us to participate in the glory with Him- how unbelievable is that?! Enter the redemptive suffering to which Colossians 1:24 points us.

With redemptive suffering, we can use anything bad that comes our way for good, though Jesus. Instead of complaining about something and allowing it to consume us, we can offer that up as a prayer and unite it to Jesus’ cross for good- for specific intentions, for the salvation of souls, to comfort Jesus on the cross, etc. We can offer up anything from a major illness to a common cold, from a terrible family situation to a minor annoyance with someone, from difficult work to mundane chores, from deep sadness to confusion, from enduring an ugly comment to having someone cut you off in traffic. None of those instances have to be wasted- what a relief! We can use these daily annoyances and pains for good, and we can offer them for specific intentions- for people we know or don’t know, for the conversion of hearts, for our country, for our priests and Church leaders, etc. There are no limitations– God wants us to cooperate with Him using all of this for good! It doesn’t end with the suffering- the suffering is a spring board to redemption. And God wants us to participate in the redemption with Him! He could have all the glory Himself, but He wants to share that good part with us. He wants our participation with Him. How incredible.

That is such a relief to me to know that God knows my pain, cares about my pain, and that none of my pain ever has to be wasted. The loss of “what could’ve been instead” is one of the scariest parts about pain. But God overcame all of that, and He approaches our pain not from a place of detachment, but from a place of total understanding, namely in Jesus’ unwarranted and brutal murder, where it was His Son, but also Himself. He’s experienced pain on our level- He chose not to be above it, immune to it, or indifferent to it. But He overcame it, He removed the power it had over us, and He made it possible for good to come from it.

For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

-Hebrews 4:15-15 (RSVCE)

I wonder what our world would look like if more people understood the cross, if they knew what to do with their pain and suffering. What if more people knew that God cares, that God doesn’t desire that pain but wants to bring good out of it with our cooperation. For me personally, deep pain was sandpaper to my soul at times, but that’s when I didn’t understand the cross. Now I know that God isn’t causing the pain, and that pain is not part of His perfect will. Pain is not the endpoint, but it can be offered for something greater, and that makes all the difference in my response to that pain. Those truths break down the walls that pain erects in our human hearts.

So why would we exalt the cross, where Jesus hung as He was brutally murdered? Because it’s our redemption. The cross reminds us of the reality of our sin and brokenness, and that Jesus paid the price for us. We exalt the cross because He redeemed the world through it, and He prevailed over it so that suffering can be transformative. Pain and suffering don’t have the last word- He does, and that word is of glory and redemption. He provides an open invitation for us to participate in that and awaits our responses in the multitude of opportunities we have to put redemptive suffering into practice each day. 

These words in the Stations of the Cross remind us why we exalt the cross:

“We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.“

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