This image was taken near where my ancestors settled and built a community in central Idaho. I visit this place annually on Memorial Day. I love the feel of Spring, when everything is new here. This wild bloom was enhanced by textures from 2LilOwls textures. Visit SEImagesonline, a Fine Art America website for more images in a wide variety of categories.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Sunday’s Feast Day

I am always excited and overcome with happiness and love when the Holy Spirit comes to visit at an unexpected moment.  And so I can only imagine how it must have felt for Saint Helena when she discovered the True Cross that our Lord was crucified on.

The crosses of the thieves and Jesus had been taken away and hidden after the crucifixion.  The place of burial, the Sepulcher, and the site of the crucifixion on Mount Calvary, had been mounded over and hidden by the Jews and Romans.

It was in 326 that Saint Helena received divine inspiration and returned to Jerusalem to find the True Cross.  A Jewish man, Judas, led Saint Helena to the place where the crosses had been hidden, only to find that the inscription at the top of the cross Jesus had been crucified on had been removed. Not knowing which of the three crosses was the True Cross, this is when attempts were made to find out which of these was the True Cross. How awesome it must have been when the woman near death touched the cross, and was healed, and again when the dead man was brought to the three crosses and when laid upon the True Cross, was restored to life.

One other interesting piece of this story is when the cross was carried back to the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, by Emperor Heraclius, he was unable to enter the church on Mount Calvary. He was dressed in fine robes.  When he put on penitential garments at the advice of Patriarch Zacharias of Jerusalem, he was able to carry the cross through the threshold of the church, thus, restoring the True Cross back to Jerusalem

Sunday’s Feast was a celebration of, first the finding of the True Cross by Saint Helena mother of the emperor Constantine.  It also celebrates the dedication of the churches built at the Holy Sepulcher and on Mount Calvary, and finally the restoration of the True Cross back to Jerusalem.

The Cross was and is no longer a symbol of shame, but has become a symbol of our salvation. I always try to put myself in the scene when studying scripture or when reading about events such as this from Jesus time. I imagine myself as someone there, but just watching the events. What a true witness of life through Christ we have in these events.