Homily for
EXULTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS
13/14 September, 2014
Fr. Dwayne’s homily follows….
I. Saint Pope John Paul II was pope from 1978 to 2005. He was the third longest
reigning pope in history. If you were to ask him what was the most important day
of his life, what would he have said?
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the day he was elected pope at the age of 58? That’s a pretty big accomplishment!
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Pope John Paul II loved being a priest; would he say the most important day of his life
was the day he was ordained after having studied in a clandestine seminary during the war,
barely avoiding arrest by the Nazis? No.

he would have said that the most important day of his life was the day of his baptism,
because it was on that day he was configured to Christ. On that day he was united to Christ
and began his life journey as a disciple of Jesus. More important than being a priest, more
important than being pope!

this day is the most important day of your child’s life. They may become the bishops
and Mother Theresas of our day, but nothing will supercede this day.

today your child will be united to Christ through the sacrament of baptism.
II. And what are your dreams for your child? How do you think this will unfold?
What do you imagine your child will do, or become, in life? A parent’s dreams for
a child can certainly take a whole wide range of ideals and expectations –
including athletics, the arts, academics, career and family life. Do your dreams
include being a holy, devoted disciple of Jesus? Do you see your child as someone
in love with Christ and as someone who wants nothing more than to live as a
faithful disciple of Jesus?
A few moments ago you presented your child for baptism, and by so doing,
you accepted the responsibility of training your child in the practice of the faith
by bringing your child up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us by
God and neighbor.
These are not empty words. These are not just some passing words in a
Church ritual. They are both a solemn responsibility and at the same time a
wonderful privilege. You get to share your faith with your child; you get to
teach your child about the beauty and wonder of the Christian life. You get to
teach your child how Jesus can be their Way, Truth and Life in their journey
through life.
And your child will be baptized on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross:
your child will be baptized into the totality of what that means: both the peace
and joy which come from being a disciple of Jesus as well as the challenges and
demands of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
II. The central thing you need to teach your child is that being a disciple of Jesus
is focused on self-sacrifice. Being a disciple of Jesus is not about me. Disciples
of Jesus are not focused in upon themselves; the world isn’t focused around
them. Disciples of Jesus are to be other directed: opening up…reaching out…
thinking of others before themselves…being willing to give up their own selfish
interests and desires for the sake of others.
Another fancy word for that is love…you must teach your child to be a loving
person – as was Jesus.
III. But parents do not teach their child in the ways of faith alone.
They have asked for the support of godparents. You who have been
nominated to serve as godparents have a duty to help the mother and father
of your godchild to live as a disciple of Jesus. By being a godparent, a spiritual
relationship is established between you and your godchild: you have a spiritual
bond with your godchild, a relationship like none.
Being a godparent is not some honorary role we pass around the family; it’s
not just some fun thing to do at a certain point in life. You are to be a stellar
example of holy and faith-filled Christian living. Your godchild should be able to
look to you as an example of faithful Christian, Catholic living. When your
godchild is 14 and 15 and 16 years old, will he or she know who his godmother
is? Will he be able to look to his godfather as an exemplary model of Christian
living? Will she be proud that you are her godmother?
IV. And the responsibility of teaching these children in the ways of the faith falls
also upon us, the Christian community. We are to be a loving, faith-filled
community. Our community should be one to which these children will want
to come. They should feel comfortable, at home here. Here they should
continue to learn about the ways of the faith through prayer, celebration of
the sacraments and our love for one another.
V. And why do we do all this? Why do we surround these children with love and
with faith? Because we have the end game in mind. And what is the “end
game?” It was described by Jesus when he responded to Nicodemus, “…the Son
of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal
life.”
And it begins with baptism – the most important day of our life. This is the
beginning of our life with Christ, we journey through life with Christ, and pass
on through death into the joys of eternal life.
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Fr. Kyle’s homily follows….
Today we celebrate the feast of the Exultation of the Cross. But think about it, today we
celebrate something which was used as an instrument of torture for hundreds of years. In our
current time we have become accustomed to seeing the cross as a religious symbol and we can
easily forget how dreadful of a thing that cross was in the time of Christ. Think about it, the
modern equivalent would be to see someone wearing a necklace with a little electric chair
dangling from the chain. Such a piece of jewelry would surly raise some eyebrows. So why do
we celebrate and exult something which was an instrument of torture? Why do we celebrate
something which was designed to cause so much suffering?
In short, it is because Christ’s suffering shows us how suffering can actually be valuable. Christ
did not suffer and die for no reason. He chose to suffer FOR us. It was out of love that he
chose to suffer on the cross so that we may be saved. Saint Catherine of Siena one had a vision
in which Christ spoke to her and said, “It was not the nails but my love for you that held me to
the wood of the cross”. Christ on the cross was not just an isolated event of suffering. Christ
made it a suffering FOR others and so this cross and suffering has profound value.
It should is no surprise to us that our life is and will be filled with difficulties and suffering.
The question is what we do with this suffering. Do we just suffer in isolation, or do we suffer
FOR something or someone as Christ did for us?
In our Catholic faith, there is a great tradition of “offering up” our suffering for the sake of
others. This is something that we do not hear about too much these days but it is a very power
form of prayer. When we are at work or school, with family, in any of the sufferings and
crosses of our daily life we have an opportunity to unite our suffering with Christ on the cross.
We too can choose to accept this suffering FOR the sake of others. We too can choose to
remain on that cross for those whom we love. In doing this, we, like Christ, transform our
suffering into something valuable for others.
Let me give an example from my life. I don’t like doing dishes. I mean, I really despise having
to do dishes. If it were up to me I would just have Fr. Dwayne do all the dishes at the rectory
but that would not be fair to him so I have to do dishes from time to time. It seems like
something small but I can unite the suffering of doing dishes to Christ’s suffering on the cross
and offer that suffering up for others. I usually try to offer up this particular suffering for
members of the parish who have lost a loved one who have fallen ill. In the small and big
sufferings of our life we can unite ourselves to Christ and offer that suffering for others.
As we celebrate the exultation of Christ’s cross today we also can celebrate the many little
crosses we have in our life. We do not celebrate the suffering that these crosses cause us but we
celebrate that Christ has shown us how to transform this suffering into something valuable for
others. At the ends of each pew there are small pieces of paper with a prayer of “offering up”
our suffering for others. At this time I ask that if you are at the end of the pew, please pass the
prayer to the others in your pew. Keep it with you for times when you may be suffering and
want to offer up that suffering out of love for someone else.