“Exultation of the Holy Cross,” by Ron Raab. COURTESY OF RON RAAB
Source & Summit: The Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross
(The faithful) taking part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the source and summit of the whole Christian life, offer the Divine Victim to God, and themselves along with it.
-The Second Vatican Council fathers in Lumen Gentium, #11
Source & Summit is a feature of The Western Kentucky Catholic online, celebrating the National Eucharistic Revival: Year of Parish Revival. Intended to help Catholics of our parishes to probe the riches of our liturgical year and celebrate the liturgy well, the column will always start with the Bible readings for the Mass of the Day to help us reflect on, and help to “unpack” and expand our experiences at liturgy into the domestic church (the home) and the workplace.
Sunday reflections will be based on the Lord’s Day, the Liturgy, the Eucharist, and, occasionally, community.
Thursday, September 14, 2023:
Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091423.cfm
Numbers 21:4b—9
Psalm 78: 1bc—2, 34—38
Philippians 2:6—11
John 3:13—17
The second reading today contains one of the earliest Christian hymns (if not the earliest), the hymn of Christ’s kenosis, or self-emptying. The traditional entrance hymn of the day, “We Should Glory in the Cross” is also the traditional hymn for the beginning of Holy Thursday, and themes from the Sacred Triduum are woven throughout today’s liturgy. In the Gospel verse today, we hear, “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”
In Greece, Christians celebrate this day with basil, so pesto may be in order. And certainly a reverent observance of the feast day would include blessing yourself with the Sign of the Cross, the sign of our redemption.
-Michael Bogdan
To learn more about the Diocese of Owensboro’s celebration of the National Eucharistic Revival, visit https://owensborodiocese.org/eucharistic-revival/.
