September 13, 2020 - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Friends in Christ:

This week we celebrate a special feast in the life of the Church: The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (known in the former version of the Roman Missal as the “Triumph of the Cross”). This feast is celebrated on the 14th of September every year, so it is this coming Monday!

During the Fourth Century St. Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, traveled to Jerusalem to visit the many holy sites in the life of Christ. While she was there, Helena began the process of having a church built over the traditional site of the Lord’s burial place, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. While excavating, the workers unearthed three crosses believed to be those of Christ and the two thieves crucified with him. Tradition has it that the true cross of Christ was identified when it was touched to a dying woman who was then miraculously healed. The cross immediately became a relic of veneration.