We adore you O Christ and we praise you, for by your cross you have redeemed the world. Alleluia.

Dear brothers and sisters.

1. As representatives of the people of God in the Archdiocese of Halifax, Cap Breton, all of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, you are gathered in this acclamation of the liturgy with Archbishop Hayes, with the other bishops and with the Church throughout the world. The Catholic Church celebrates today the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of Christ. As the crucified Christ is lifted up by faith into the hearts of all who believe, so he lifts up those same hearts with a hope that cannot be destroyed. For the cross is the sign of redemption, and in redemption is contained the promise of resurrection and the beginning of new life: the lifting up of human hearts.

At the beginning of my office in the See of St Peter I sought to proclaim this truth with the encyclical Redemptor Hominis. In this same truth I wish today to be united with all of you in adoration of the cross of Christ:

"Do not forget the works of God" (cf. Ps 78:7).

2. To conform ourselves to the acclamation of today's liturgy, let us carefully follow the path traced by these holy words in which the mystery of the Exaltation of the Cross is announced to us.

Firstly, in these words is contained the meaning of the Old Testament. According to St Augustine, the Old Testament contains what is fully revealed in the new. Here we have the image of the bronze serpent to which Jesus referred in his conversation with Nicodemus. The Lord himself revealed the meaning of this image by saying: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3: 14-15).

During the journey of the people of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land - because the people complained - God sent an invasion of poisonous snakes because of which many perished. When the survivors realised their guilt, they asked Moses to intercede with God: "Pray to the Lord to drive these serpents away from us" (Nm 21:7).

Moses prayed and received this command from the Lord: "Make yourself a snake and put it on a pole. Whoever after being bitten shall look upon it and remain alive" (Nm 21:8). Moses obeyed the order. The bronze snake placed on the pole represented salvation from death for all those who were bitten by snakes.

In the book of Genesis, the serpent was the symbol of the evil spirit. But now, by a surprising inversion, the bronze serpent hoisted in the desert becomes a representation of Christ, hoisted on the cross.

The feast of the Exaltation of the Cross recalls to our minds, and in a way, makes present, the elevation of Christ on the cross. The feast is the elevation of the redeeming Christ: whoever believes in the crucified Christ will have eternal life.

The elevation of Christ on the cross constitutes the beginning of the elevation of humanity through the cross. And the ultimate fulfilment of the elevation is eternal life.

3. This Old Testament event is recalled in the central theme of St John's Gospel.

Why is the cross and the crucified Christ the door to eternal life?

Because in him - in the crucified Christ - God's love for the world, for man, is manifested in its fullness.

In the same conversation with Nicodemus Christ says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through him (Jn 3:16-17).

The salvation of the Son of God through his elevation on the cross has its eternal source in love. It is the love of the Father who sends the Son; he offers his Son for the salvation of the world. At the same time it is the love of the Son who does not 'judge' the world, but sacrifices himself for love of the Father and for the salvation of the world. By giving himself to the Father through the sacrifice of the cross, he offers himself at the same time to the world: to each individual person and to the whole of humanity.

The cross contains within itself the mystery of salvation, because in the cross love is lifted up. This means the elevation of love to the highest point in world history: in the cross, love is sublimated and the cross is at the same time sublimated through love. And from the height of the cross, love descends to us. Yes: "The cross is the deepest stooping of divinity upon man. The cross is like a touch of eternal love on the most painful wounds of man's earthly existence" (Ioannis Pauli PP. II, Dives in Misericordia, 8).

4. To the Gospel of John, the liturgy of today's feast day adds the presentation made by Paul in his letter to the Philippians. The apostle speaks of an emptying of Christ through the cross; and at the same time of the elevation of Christ above all things; and this also had its beginning in the cross itself:

"Jesus Christ . . . stripped himself by assuming the condition of a servant and becoming similar to men, and having appeared in human form, he humbled himself even more by becoming obedient unto death, and death on a cross. For this reason God exalted him and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil 2:6-11).

The cross is the sign of Christ's deepest humiliation. In the eyes of the people of that time, it was the sign of an infamous death. Only slaves could be punished with such a death, not free men. Christ, on the other hand, willingly accepts this death, death on the cross. Yet this death becomes the principle of the resurrection. In the resurrection, the crucified servant of Yahweh is lifted up: he is lifted up over all creation.

At the same time, the cross is also lifted up. It ceases to be the sign of an infamous death and becomes the sign of resurrection, that is, of life. Through the sign of the cross, it is not the servant or the slave who speaks, but the Lord of all creation.

5. These three elements of today's liturgy, the Old Testament, the Christological hymn of Paul and the Gospel of John, together form the great richness of the mystery of the triumph of the cross.

As we are immersed in this mystery with the Church, which throughout the world today celebrates the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, I wish to share with you, in a special way, its riches, dear brothers and sisters of the Archdiocese of Halifax, dear people of Nova Scotia, Edward Island and all of Canada.

Yes, I wish to share with you all the riches of that holy cross - which, as the banner of salvation - was planted on your soil 450 years ago. Since then the cross has triumphed in this land and, through the collaboration of thousands of Canadians, the message of deliverance and salvation of the cross has been spread to the ends of the earth.

6. At the same time I wish to pay tribute to the missionary contribution of the sons and daughters of Canada who have given their lives in this way "that the word of the Lord may spread, and be glorified as it is also among you" (2 Thess 3:1). I pay homage to the faith and love that motivated them, and to the power of the cross that gave them the strength to go forth and fulfil Christ's command: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:20).

And in paying homage to your missionaries, I likewise pay homage to the communities throughout the world that have welcomed their message and marked their graves with the cross of Christ. The Church is grateful for the hospitality accorded them a burial place, from where they await the final exaltation of the holy cross in the glory of resurrection and eternal life.

I express deep gratitude for the zeal of the Church in Canada and I thank you for your prayers, contributions and various activities through which you support the missionary cause. In particular, I thank you for your generosity towards the Holy See's mission of helping societies.

7. Evangelization remains forever the sacred heritage of Canada, which truly has a glorious history of missionary activity at home and abroad. Evangelisation must continue to be exercised through personal commitment, preaching hope in the promises of Jesus and through the proclamation of fraternal love. It will always be connected with the planting and building of the Church and will have a profound relationship with development and freedom as an expression of human progress. At the heart of this message, however, is an explicit proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ, that salvation brought about by the cross. Here are the words of Paul VI: "Evangelisation will always contain - even as the basis, centre and summit of its dynamism - a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, dead and risen, salvation is offered to every man, as God's own gift of grace and mercy" (Pauli VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 27).

The Church in Canada will be itself if it proclaims among all its members, in word and deed, the exaltation of the cross, and if, at home and abroad, it is an evangelising Church.

Although these words come from me, there is another who speaks to the hearts of young people everywhere. It is the Holy Spirit himself, and it is he who presses upon each one of us, as a member of Christ, to lead us to embrace and bring the good news of God's love. But to some the Holy Spirit is proposing the command of Jesus in its specific missionary form: go and recruit disciples from all nations. Before the whole Church, I, John Paul II, once again proclaim the absolute value of the missionary vocation. And I assure all those called to ecclesiastical and religious life that our Lord Jesus Christ is ready to accept and make fruitful the special sacrifice of their lives, in celibacy, for the exaltation of the cross.

8. Today the Church, in proclaiming the Gospel, relives in a certain way the whole period that begins on Ash Wednesday, reaches its climax during Holy Week and at Easter, and continues in the following weeks until Pentecost. The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is like the compendium of the entire Paschal Mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The cross is glorious because on it Christ has lifted himself up. Through it, Christ has elevated man. On the cross, every man is truly elevated to his full dignity, to the dignity of his ultimate end in God.

Through the cross, moreover, the power of love is revealed that elevates man, that exalts him.

Truly the whole of God's plan for the Christian life is condensed here in a wonderful way: God's plan and its meaning! Let us adhere to God's plan and its meaning! Let us rediscover the place of the cross in our lives and in our society.

Let us speak of the cross in a special way to all those who suffer, and convey its message of hope to young people. Let us continue to proclaim its saving power to the ends of the earth: "Exaltatio Crucis!": the glory of the holy cross!

Brothers and sisters: "Never forget the works of the Lord"! Amen.

[Pope John Paul II, Homily Halifax (Canada) 14 September 1984]