Look Up!

Homily for the Feast of the
Exultation of the Holy Cross
14 September 2014

        As many of you know, I had the great opportunity to return to Guatemala last month for a mission trip. I find myself always excited to go back there.

        But this time was different.

        On this particular trip, we spent a free day in the city of Antigua, the capital of the country before Guatemala City was established in 1776. Never having visited Antigua, I did a little research about it prior to our visit. When looking at some of the attractions, I noticed El Cerro de la Cruz, The Hill of the Cross. The pictures looked wonderful. I thought, “This is something that I’m going to have to see.”

        And I did.

        Along with two other missionaries, we climbed the Hill of the Cross. Though not an easy climb, it was well worth it. Not only does one have the opportunity to see below to Antigua and Volcán Agua to the South, but you have a chance to appreciate up close that which you see from the distance below – the Cross standing victorious, yet unassuming, against the impressive backdrop or nature.

        But whether you’re below in the city or standing on the Hill of the Cross itself, one thing remains constant: You have to look up at the Cross.

        “Looking up” seems to be an old spiritual maxim. The psalms have us “looking up” to the mountains. Our First Reading has the Israelites “looking up” to the bronze serpent. Our Gospel foretells that people will be “looking up” at the Son of Man.

        Even today, we continue to “look up.”

        As I prepared for our Mass today, my mind immediately turned to the experience I had of “looking up” at the cross in Antigua. However, I was also hit the great paradox of this feast.

        The Cross, Itself, is a paradox: The Mystery of how an instrument of death brings about new life. And yet, there is also a relational paradox, if you will, that should draw us deeper into the Mystery: While we look up, He looks down.

        While standing on El Cerro de la Cruz, looking down was a natural inclination: the beauty of the city below helped us appreciate the climb to get to the Cross. The same might be said of our Lord: the sight of His Mother and friends below Him, the Lord, looking down, could appreciate (for lack of a better word) the ascent of Calvary and His lifting up on Golgotha.

        Looking down, despite the gruesomeness of His Passion, our Lord still saw the beauty of His Creation.

        Looking up, we see the lengths by which our God would go to show us the depths of His love.

        Looking down, our Lord invites us to know the full gift of His mercy.

        Looking up, we see the full weight of what our pride and sinfulness have done to our relationship with God.

        Looking down, we see how God humbled Himself to share in our humanity so that we may one day share in His Divinity.

        Looking up, we come to truly realize that the crosses of our lives need not overwhelm us with an earthly death, but bring us closer to eternal life.

        We look up because, for us, look down is self-defeating. We look up because, for us, we can appreciate all that God has given to us. We look up because, for us, that’s the only way we can see our Savior, looking at Him eye-to-eye, and recognize not the condemnation of the world, but its salvation.

        Yes, there are those who look up and make fun of the Cross, who mock the Cross, who condemn the Cross. It is our job to help them look up and see the beauty of the Cross, the beauty of Its Mystery, the beauty of Its Paradox. It is our job to help them look up and see how love is just more than a feeling or a verb, but how Love has taken on flesh to dwell among us, to live like us, and to even die like us, so that we may one day live like Him for all eternity.

        My brothers and sisters, in a few moments we will have the opportunity to once again witness the Paradox and Mystery of the Cross happen right before our eyes as bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ.

        I invite you to look up.

        I invite you to look up and see the God who loves you, eye-to-eye.

        I invite you to look up and embrace our Savior.

        I invite you to look up and embrace the Cross.

        My friends, as I climbed the Hill of the Cross, the Lord taught me a lesson: No matter how close or far away from the Cross we may be, we must always look up! For only by looking up do we witness the Paradox and Mystery of the Cross in action. Only by looking up do we allow ourselves to surrender to the mercy of God. Only by looking up can we reach out and embrace the Cross, by which all of our joys and sorrows truly make sense.

        For the rest of this Mass, just look up!

        For the rest of your life, just look up!

        For Christ is looking down on you with love, and inviting you to the greatest journey of your life.

V:   We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You,

R: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

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Enjoy the journey . . .