Homily — September 14, 2026
Exaltation of the Holy Cross
by Sr. Rebecca
Holy Wisdom church
This morning we are celebrating the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
During this feast as well as on Good Friday, the liturgical chant is most moving and soul-penetrating. How does the meaning of this feast penetrate our lives?
One of the prayers during this feast expresses this: “Oh God, as we reflect on this mystery of the Exaltation of the precious cross, impress on our feeble minds how much we need to embrace the cross, in whose rough surface we see ourselves as we really are.”
The cross we are celebrating today is surrounded with beautiful, colorful flowers.
Over these past years the rough surface of the cross, not without the flowers, reflects the unspeakable tragedies, suffering, familiar to all of us. But this is only one side of the mirror of the cross; the flip side is what is mirrored within ourselves, our small selves. No one is spared feelings of powerlessness to change the situations that we are facing, each one of us personally and globally.
One of Richard Rohr’s readings addresses this reality: “The well-prepared mind forgets the suffering inflicted from without to the guidance to what has been contemplated within.” I’d like to unpack this phrase: the first part – ‘suffering inflicted from without’: if our minds are stayed on the surface we will be inclined to indulge in anxiety, worry, blaming, accusing, explaining, trying to make logical sense of our personal and global plights. We tend perhaps to go to our heads, to try to figure things out.
However, when we allow ourselves to go deeper—the reading continues: “looking at suffering from what has been contemplated within”, we will see with clarity how our ego-small selves are trying to control what is not in our control. On a very personal level, what is going on in my mind when I come into contact with what upsets my planning, what bruises me, what challenges me in my daily life? These are examples of a multitude of situations where we are not in control of our lives. Our ego impulsive reactions are mirrored to us when we cannot do what we want or need to do in any given situation. I personally find that paying attention to the small gritty sides of life makes me aware of willfulness rather than willingness to face life’s ‘crosses’ consciously, intentionally in the light of Christ’s presence which never leaves us. When we find ourselves succumbing to irritation, anger or any other negative reaction, it is not God who is absent, it is our mind that is absent, the “unprepared mind” as the saying above expresses. Unprepared mind: it is staying on the rough surface of my attention and especially when glued into my ego-mind.
The crosses are most often not ones we choose but ones that are thrust on us through life’s circumstances. When we look beneath the veneer of our attitudes, our impulsive reactions, we quickly see a kind of self-centeredness that persistently puts our personal needs and agendas before the well-being of others.
These attitudes are perhaps one of the biggest obstacles to the manner of perceiving and hearing the ‘word of God’ within us. To really listen to our soul consciousness. Practicing soul consciousness allows us to see blessedness around us; the illuminous beauty of the cross enables us to experience what is most precious in life: Love, to notice the subtle sensitivity around us, to feel connected with ourselves and in our relationships with others and creation. Paradox of paradoxes: what is felt as death-dealing is in fact life-giving. Isn’t this why we surround the cross with flowers during this feast? The cross perceived in this light is blessedness in the deepest sense of the word. Bliss! It is transformative into the Risen Christ: within and without.
Christ is in our midst!
