Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,
I encounter the cross quite frequently in my daily life. I am not speaking of the crosses of suffering, though those come, too. I am referring to the actual cross. There are crucifixes on the walls of my house. There is a crucifix on the rosary that I carry in my pocket. There are crucifixes and crosses in my workplace and other places that I visit. Most of these are beautiful works of art, and all of them are meant to be a reminder to us of the price that was paid for our salvation: the death of Jesus upon the Cross.
As Catholics, each time we pray, we make the Sign of the Cross. The cross is so present to us that we can often just overlook its significance. Or perhaps we just mentally obscure the horror of what the cross represents. It is something we want to be aware of, but also a reality we have to mute a bit in order to be able to live with the truth of it.
On September 14, the Church observes the Exaltation or Triumph of the Cross. It is a celebration that an instrument of horrendous torture and a painful death is now a sign of triumph and now a symbol of forgiveness and new life.
This Feast celebrates an accumulation of events. In 320 A.D., the Empress Helena made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to visit the places associated with events in the life of Jesus. One of the places she wanted to visit was the tomb of Jesus. This was actually rather easy to find, as the pagans had erected a temple to Venus on the spot, to discourage visits by the Christians. Saint Helena was also able to find the site of Calvary and the resting place of the True Cross. In 335 the Emperor Constantine erected a series of chapels. There was a basilica for the True Cross and a chapel over the tomb and Calvary. In 614 the Persians sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the shrines, and carried off the True Cross. In 629 the True Cross was restored to the Christians. In 1149, the Crusaders erected the large Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which now encompassed the tomb of Jesus, Calvary, and the site where Helena discovered the True Cross.
So on September 14, we celebrate. . .
1. The discovery if the True Cross by Saint Helena                                                                          
2. The recovery of the True Cross from the Persians by the Christians.                                                 
3. The dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Finally, we celebrate the victory of Jesus over sin and death by His death upon the Holy Cross. Let us rejoice that this sign of hate and death now becomes for us the victorious sign of love and life in Christ!
Msgr. Cox
 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (roof view) Jerusalem