Today’s feast of the exaltation or triumph of the Holy Cross is not like Good Friday. Our focus is not so much on the sufferings of Jesus. Rather, we celebrate what the gospel reading refers to as the lifting up of the Son of Man. The term ‘lifting up’ suggests not just his being lifted up physically on the cross but also his being lifted up in glory.
There are some depictions of the cross which highlight this double sense of Jesus being lifted up, where the body of Jesus on the cross is almost glorified. You may be familiar with the cross of San Damiano in Assisi. When St Francis was praying before it, he heard the Lord call on him to rebuild the church. The image of Jesus that is painted on that cross has a glorious, luminous, quality. It is this kind of depiction of the cross that reflects the meaning of today’s feast, which is the feast of the triumph or exaltation of the cross.

The crucifixion of Jesus : a triumph?
It was firstly the triumph of love over hatred,
the triumph of God’s love over human sin.
All authentic love is life-giving and God’s love is supremely life-giving.

That is why the crucifixion of Jesus was a triumph in another sense:
the triumph of life over death,
of God’s life over human death, a triumph in which we can all share.
That verse in today’s gospel reading which has spoken to believers down the centuries really sums up the meaning of today’s feast,
‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him’.

Today we are invited to look upon the cross as:
the ‘explosion of God’s life-giving love for us all’
and then to allow ourselves to be drawn into that love so that we can reflect it to others in our care for them.
This year,  AD 2025,  seems to be a particularly violent year across the world.
Today, Jesus is calling to us all to be peacemakers in  our care for our families, parish communities, local, national and international fellow citizens on this planet loaned to us by God for the time being.