Exaltation of the Cross Novena – 9 Days of Prayer

Lord Jesus, You said: 'When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.' You were lifted up on the Cross — and You were not wrong. The Cross, the instrument of the most shameful death the Roman world had devised, became the most recognized symbol in human history. It stands on every church. It is worn around necks. It is traced on foreheads of the baptized.

Lord, we exalt Your Cross today — not because suffering is good in itself, but because You entered our suffering and transformed it. The Cross is not a sign that God abandoned You. It is the sign that God went all the way into the worst of human experience and did not turn back.

St. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, journeyed to Jerusalem in her old age and found the True Cross. She built a church over the place of the Crucifixion. She understood that the Cross was not something to be ashamed of but something to be sought, touched, venerated — because on it hung the salvation of the world.

I have a cross too. Perhaps I did not choose it. Perhaps it feels too heavy, or too humiliating, or too pointless. Perhaps I cannot see how any good can come from it.

(Pause to mention your intentions and the crosses you carry)

Lord Jesus, You did not promise that the Cross would feel like victory while we carry it. You carried Yours and fell three times. But You rose. And You have promised that all who take up their cross and follow You will also rise.

Give me the grace to carry mine with faith, even when I cannot see the purpose. And let my cross, united with Yours, bear fruit I cannot yet imagine.

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory Be...

We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You, because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.