This Sunday, we will celebrate the Exultation of the Holy Cross. It is one of those few celebrations directly related to Jesus that take precedence over the normal Sunday celebration. But given its importance to our faith and our spiritual life, we can certainly see why that is the case.

On one level the cross was the historical means by which Christ died. However, the death of Jesus by that instrument was not simply one more in a series of executions in that brutal form used by the Romans.

Rather, it was the Son of God, hidden from our view by His humanity, taking the sins of the world upon Himself and, on the cross, offering Himself in our place to His heavenly Father. This fact is vitally important to our faith because only by faith can it be perceived. The world sees only a defeated and dying man.

Aside from the historical reality of Jesus’ crucifixion, there are lessons to be learned from the cross that we venerate on this feast. For example, the Romans used this means of torture and execution because it was humiliating as well as horribly painful.

To die before your friends and neighbors stripped nearly naked and pinned to wooden beams was recognized then (as it would be now) as removing every element of human dignity. However, Jesus, because He is the Son of God, gave us a greater example of humility than will ever be asked of any of us. Every time we look at the cross we should be reminded of our own need to be not proud or arrogant, but to be humble in imitation of Jesus.

Then there is Jesus’ willing embrace of the will of His Father. Several weeks ago, I happened upon Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ” replaying on television one evening. I had not seen it since it came out in 2004.

Watching it once again, one image captivated my thoughts. After His terrible scourging and beating, Jesus is presented with His cross to carry. In the movie, despite His pain and weakness, Jesus does not shrink from the cross or take it up reluctantly. Instead, it was subtle but clear that despite His tired and pain-racked body, He embraced His cross. (“Father … not my will but yours be done.”)

What a reminder as we struggle through moments of pain, sorrow, and maybe even spiritual darkness. We can take up our struggle with complaints and laments because we can’t really avoid it, or we can do our best to follow the example of Christ by giving ourselves over to what the Father asks of us.

Finally, there is the person of Simon of Cyrene who helped Jesus to carry His cross. While the Gospels indicate the Romans forced him to do so, we can well speculate and pray over whether Simon’s proximity to Christ and the cross in that moment might have brought about within him a willing acceptance of his task.

Meditating on Simon’s role, we are reminded that, like Jesus, we too do not carry our crosses alone. But unlike 2,000 years ago, it is now Christ who helps each of us with our personal crosses. And we are always being given opportunities to help others to carry their crosses.

For all of these reasons, and many more that your own prayer and thoughts might come across, we celebrate not just the memory of the cross, but its exaltation. We praise and venerate the cross because it cannot be separated from Jesus’ death, from the Mass, or from our way to the Father.

Every Catholic home should have at least one crucifix (if not more) prominently displayed. Placing one in the bedroom reminds us when we go to bed at the end of the day and when we begin a new day of the love and sacrifice of Jesus for us. Parents, did you pack one in the kid’s belongings for the dorm room as they headed off to college? If not, it’s not too late to send them one!

Above all, the exultation of the cross reminds us that the sacrifice of Jesus is personal. Yes, He did it for the whole world. But it is vitally important that we recognize that His sacrifice was done for each of us.

Every time, then, that we see a crucifix, we are helped to stand with Mary and John at the foot of the cross. Jesus’ love has transformed it from humiliation and torture to the instrument of our salvation.

Lift high the Cross!