On September 14th we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This Feast Day captures so much of the spirit that Missionaries bring with them as they discuss their ministries when they visit the office of the Pontifical Missions Society for the Propagation of the Faith, here in Philadelphia.  

These Missionaries live out the life that Saint Paul describes in his letter to the Galatians, quoted in the Feast Day Liturgy of the Hours:  “I have been crucified with Christ, and the life I live now is not my own, Christ is living in me.”   This Feast Day message comes to life when we look at the lives of some of the Missionary Saints whose memorials we celebrate in September. 

On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we honor the Holy Cross by which Christ redeemed the world. Public veneration of the Cross of Christ originated, according to most early accounts, when Saint Helen, mother of the emperor Constantine I, miraculously discovered the true cross on September 14, 326, while she was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

This Feast day celebrates the fact that “the event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything towards life.”  CCC-1085   This event calls all the faithful and disciples of Jesus not only to keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it and spread it.  All, however, must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow Him along the way of the Cross. CCC-1816   

“ . . . following Him along the way of the Cross,” describes the many men and women of the nation of Korea who were slain because they refused to renounce Christ. Korean’s initially embraced Christianity in their land because they were eager to learn about the world.  But just as conversion of many began, Korean officials suddenly labeled them as foreign traitors.  This began fifty years of persecution and martyrdom for over 8,000 Catholics including 103 priests, and lay missionaries. [www.catholic.org/saints]

One Korea Catholic, John Pak Hu-Jae, later canonized a Saint, when asked by a judge whether he realized he was breaking the law of the king, replied that his loyalty to God came before that of his king. Faced with death, he answered, “My religion is more important than my life.”   Even today the martyred Saints’ undying spirit sustains the Christians in the north of this tragically divided land.  The Martyrs of Korea and Saint John Pak Hu-Jae are honored in September and show us living examples of Christ’s redemption through the way of the Holy Cross.

 The Church also honors in September Saint Dominic Trach Doai, one of the Martyrs of Vietnam. An imperial edict in Vietnam forbade Christianity. It is estimated that from1857 to 1862, over 200 Priests and Religious and more than 5,000 of the faithful were martyred. Convents, churches, and schools were razed, and as many as 40,000 Catholics were dispossessed of their lands and exiled from their own regions to starve in wilderness areas.  Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Asia called Saint Dominic and all the Martyrs of Vietnam, “indomitable witnesses to the truth that Christians are called always and everywhere to proclaim nothing other than the power of the Lord’s Cross.” 

This spirit of the Cross is alive today all throughout Mission lands, despite continuing challenges in Mission work to spread the Catholic faith. Although I listen to experiences from visiting Missionaries about the threat of death and recent killings in India and Mexico and about pastoral centers and homes burnt and demolished in the Philippines, there is always the story of the faith-filled experiences of the Missionaries living their life of witness.  Amid this witness, I see present the gifts of love, hope and conversion, with no limits as to what might be accomplished in Christ Jesus.

The Cross represents the One Sacrifice by which Jesus, obedient even unto death, accomplished our salvation. The Cross is a symbolic summary of the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ -- all in one image.  It is one perfect image, not only for the month of September, but for Missionaries and those of us daily living out our Catholic faith – always!

Please pray and sacrifice for the Missionaries who have devoted their lives to work with our brothers and sisters in over 1,100 Dioceses in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands and remote regions of Latin America. To learn more, go to www.phillymissions.org or call 215-587-3944.

Remember, through prayer and acts of sacrifice, by your words and actions, you become a Missionary for the Lord.