The Feast of the Holy Cross

On September 14th, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. At first glance it may seem strange to celebrate the cross, an instrument of suffering and death. But in the Catholic tradition, and especially in the Liberal Catholic way of seeing things, the cross is not simply a memory of pain. It is the sign of love lifted up for the whole world to see.

The cross points us in two directions. Its vertical beam draws our eyes and hearts upward, reminding us of God who is beyond all things. Its horizontal beam reaches outward, reminding us of the love we are called to show in the world. At the center, where the beams meet, we find Christ. It is there that heaven and earth touch, and it is there that we find the true heart of our faith.

For us, the meaning of the cross is not about punishment or wrath. It is about revelation. On the cross, Christ shows us that divine love is willing to enter even the darkest places of human life and transform them from within. In this way, the cross becomes a doorway into hope. Suffering is not the end. Death does not have the last word.

This feast invites us to lift our own struggles, our own burdens, to the cross. It invites us to see them not only as weights to be carried, but as places where grace can break in. Every sorrow we endure, every trial we face, can be met by the love that Christ revealed on Calvary.

Today, as we venerate the Holy Cross, let us remember it is more than a piece of wood from long ago. It is a living sign of God’s love for the world, a love that meets us in our pain, heals us in our wounds, and raises us to new life.