Exaltation of the Cross
This Sunday is the Exaltation of the Cross; this feast is a paradox: the “exaltation” of an instrument of torture and death. Yet the Cross is not just an old piece of wood. For us, it is the sign of God’s greatest love. Jesus turned the world’s cruelest punishment into the world’s greatest promise. That’s why we venerate, kiss, and even wear the Cross — it’s the sign of God’s love story written in flesh and blood.
St. Francis de Sales saw the Cross not only as a place of suffering, but as a school of love. He wrote, “The everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart.” In other words, the Cross is not simply something to fear or avoid. It’s God’s way of shaping us, loving us, and inviting us to love in return.
Francis also insisted that we don’t need to seek out extraordinary crosses. Life gives us plenty — illness, disappointment, strained relationships, and anxieties about the future. But his advice was always simple: bear these little crosses with patience, humility, and trust. That is the heart of Salesian Spirituality: to live daily life faithfully, gently, and lovingly, even when it’s hard.
Two Sundays ago, as people were leaving Mass, a woman stopped me and said: “I really appreciate you and all the Oblates. You are so different from other priests. You’re down to earth and approachable, like one of us.”
That little comment touched me, because it describes exactly what our founder, Blessed Louis Brisson, wanted the Oblates to be. He wanted priests and brothers who were not set apart on a pedestal, but men who shared daily life with people, who were approachable, who walked with others in their struggles and joys.
To be “down to earth” — that’s Salesian Spirituality in a nutshell. Humility literally means “earth.” We Oblates try to live with our feet firmly on the ground, close to the people, lifting the Cross not by words alone, but by sharing life.
This year, our Oblate community celebrates 150 years since our founding. Blessed Louis Brisson, inspired by St. Francis de Sales and Mother Mary de Sales Chappuis, began with a small group of priests and brothers in Troyes, France. He believed that the Salesian way — gentleness, humility, fidelity, and practical holiness — needed to be shared widely in a world filled with conflict and change.
Think of the 1870s in France: political upheaval, wars, and anti-religious sentiment. And yet, Brisson planted seeds of hope. He saw the Cross in his time, but he also saw God’s promise through it. From those humble beginnings came schools, missions, and parishes around the world — including right here in Toledo. For over 80 years, the Oblates have carried the Cross and proclaimed the gentle strength of the Salesian way in this diocese.
What does this mean for us today? It means we, too, exalt the Cross not by putting it on a pedestal, but by carrying it in our lives with love. Every act of patience, every gentle word spoken in anger, every kindness shown in a divided world — these are ways we lift high the Cross.
Salesian Spirituality teaches us to do ordinary things extraordinarily well — not with bitterness, but with joy. The Oblates’ mission, born 150 years ago, is to help people see that holiness is not reserved for monks and mystics; it is meant for moms and dads, teachers and nurses, students and retirees — for you and me, right here at Our Lady of Lourdes.
St. Francis de Sales often said, “Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing so gentle as real strength.” The Cross looks like weakness, but it is in fact the strength of God’s love. The Oblates exist to remind the world of that paradox — that gentleness is not weakness, and carrying the Cross is not defeat. It is the way to life.
On this feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and in this jubilee year of the Oblates, we give thanks for the Cross that redeems us, for the Salesian Spirituality that shapes us, and for the community that has carried this tradition faithfully for 150 years.
The Cross is not the end. It is the beginning of new life. To exalt it means to lift it high in our lives, not just on our walls. May we, inspired by Francis de Sales, Blessed Louis Brisson, and the Oblates who have served here, carry the Cross with faith, with gentleness, and with love — and in doing so, help the world see not defeat, but God’s glory.
Fr. Jack Loughran, OSFS
Toledo-Detroit Province