We celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross tomorrow (14th September). At first, the cross looks like a sheer tragedy: Jesus nailed between thieves, mocked, abandoned, and dying in agony. His mother, Mother Mary, stood pale and shaken, just meters away from the cross. But there is something more - the Triumph of the Cross.

The cross is life: from death comes new life in Christ. The cross is love: Jesus gave His life out of love for us, and in every Eucharist, He gives us Himself again. The cross is joy: not joy in suffering, but joy in the gift that death has been defected, and in Him, we live forever.

Novena Devotion by Fr. Glenn De Cruz, C.Ss.R. (13 September 2024)