Monday, September 14, 2026 Feast of the Holy Cross
SMOKE IN THIS LIFE, NOT THE NEXT
Mon, Sep 14 — Exaltation of the Holy Cross The hinge of history rises.
Cigar: Bold Maduro Drink: Stagg Jr. Reflection: Where do I carry the Cross with love?
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross lifts before us the center of history. The Cross is not an ornament or symbol of suffering; it is the place where justice and mercy meet. Christ did not erase pain—He entered it. He did not abolish death—He conquered it. To exalt the Cross is to acknowledge that every purification, every trial, every purgatorial fire finds its meaning in the wood that bore the Lamb.
Yesterday we considered the refiner’s fire. Today we see the furnace in which that fire burns. The Cross is the great purifier. It burns away pride, melts stubbornness, and reshapes the soul into Christ’s likeness. Hebrews teaches that divine discipline is painful but purposeful, “that we may share His holiness.” The Cross is the measure of that discipline.
Consider the arithmetic of the soul. Suppose a man commits ten faults a day—3,000 a year. In twenty years, 60,000. If half are expiated through penance and charity, 30,000 remain. If each fault required one hour of purification—a modest estimate—that becomes 30,000 hours. More than three years of purification for what we refused to purify in this life.
The Cross invites us to shorten that time. Every act of patience, every hidden sacrifice, every acceptance of inconvenience becomes a spark of purification. Today’s smoke rises with a question:
Where do I carry the Cross with love, so the fire may refine me now rather than later?
SEPTEMBER 14 Monday-Feast Exaltation of the Holy Cross
2 Maccabees, Chapter 9, Verse 29
His foster brother
Philip brought the body home; but FEARING
Antiochus’ son, he later withdrew into Egypt, to Ptolemy Philometor.
God
punishes Antiochus IV and after a horrible demise he dies. Philip then
skedaddles back to safe turf after dumping the body off.
Can
anyone really find peace without God?
Peace[1]
"Peace"
is a biblical term. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for peace is shalôm. Literally, it means
"to be complete or whole".
Shalôm is used in many different ways in the Old Testament.
It can mean general prosperity or well-being, safety or success, harmony among
friends and family members, and harmony among nations. When used as a greeting
or as a blessing it conveys the notion that one is wishing all good
things to the person addressed. When the Hebrew of the Old Testament came in
contact with the Greek world after Alexander the Great, the text was translated
into a version of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint. As with many
biblical terms, the merging of Hebrew and Greek words and ideas provided a rich
vocabulary for the sacred authors to express the word of God. Many Greek words
were used in an attempt to capture the richness of the Hebrew concept of shalôm, but the most common was eirene.
In
classical Greek, this term denotes the state that is the opposite of war or
civil disturbance. Eirene
also was used to speak of an inner peace, in which a person had no conflicts or
hostile feelings. Under the influence of Jewish religion and Greek philosophy,
the term evolved to refer to ethical goodness. So, Christians who were native
speakers of Greek began to use eirene
when speaking of the "the good that comes from God either in this age or
the age of salvation". The richness of the word as we use it today can be
traced back to this understanding.
Because
peace is so important for individuals
and for society, we must know how to
achieve and maintain peace. But to achieve each kind of peace requires that we
understand the methods proper to each. Psychologists can help a person achieve
inner harmony and may be able to offer advice on family dynamics and
difficulties, but they are not usually the best source for spiritual guidance,
and they certainly are not the frontline defenders of the civic order. In the
same way, we must not believe that
friendly feelings towards the people of another country will suffice to keep us
at peace with them. When it comes to achieving and maintaining peace, like in
many things in life, it is vital to use the right "tool" for the right
job. Two examples should help illustrate this point. The first has to do with maintaining peace with God. The second has to do with establishing peace
among nations. Peace with God is God’s gift to us. God alone can place us in
right relationship with him. This teaching is clear in both the Old and the New
Testaments. God initiated the covenant with man, restored it when we fell, and
fulfilled it in Jesus Christ. With Gideon we can say that "the Lord is our
peace".
As
Christians, we know that God dwells in us making us temples of the Holy Spirit.
He promised us that he would provide for all our needs and that "all
things would work together for good for those that love God and are called
according to his purposes". We are told that without him we can do
nothing, but that, in him, we are "more than conquerors". Thus, for
those who have accepted Christ, if we put these teachings together, we
recognize that nothing ought to rob us of our peace.
This
is the main point of Searching for
and Maintaining Peace: A Small Treatise on Peace of Heart, a book
written by Fr. Jacques Philippe, a French priest working in Rome. It is the
type of essay one can return to again and again for solace and motivation. In
it, Fr. Philippe boldly proclaims, "The reasons why we lose our peace are
always bad reasons" because God gives his peace as a gift to those who
entrust themselves to him. Jesus told his disciples:
"Peace I leave with you, my
own peace I give you; a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you.
Let not your hearts be troubled or afraid".
This
peace is no superficial freedom from conflicts or difficulties, but a deep,
abiding inner peace that comes from union with and confidence in God.
Copilot’s Take
The Cross stands in the center of history as both judgment and mercy.
Antiochus IV dies in fear, undone by the evil he unleashed. Philip flees,
seeking safety in Egypt. It is a stark reminder: a man who builds his life
apart from God eventually becomes afraid of everything. The Catechism teaches
that peace is not merely the absence of conflict but the presence of right
order — the soul aligned with God, the community aligned with truth, the nation
aligned with justice.
America’s struggle with evil is not new. Every generation faces its own
Antiochus: ideologies that dehumanize, movements that divide, voices that
inflame, powers that promise freedom but deliver fear. The CCC is blunt: evil
is real, sin wounds, and structures of sin can deform entire cultures (CCC
1869). Yet the Cross is more blunt still: Christ has already conquered.
Confronting evil in America begins where peace begins — in the heart. A
man who kneels before the Cross becomes ungovernable by fear. He becomes a
witness of shalôm: whole, steady, interiorly ordered. From that place, he can
confront disorder without becoming part of it. He can speak truth without
hatred, resist injustice without violence, and stand firm without losing
charity.
The Cross teaches that evil is not defeated by outrage, nor by retreat,
nor by despair. Evil is confronted by men and women who carry Christ’s peace
into the public square — a peace the world cannot give and cannot steal.
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross[2]
THIS feast is a yearly commemoration of the erection,
at Jerusalem, by Constantine the Great, and his mother, St. Helena, of the
cross on which Christ died. This took place under the emperor Heraclius, by
whom the holy cross, which Khosroo, King of Persia, had carried into his own
country, was, after fourteen years, recovered, brought back to Jerusalem, and
borne by the emperor himself to the hill of Calvary, whither it had been borne
by the Savior. Upon this occasion a miracle occurred. As Heraclius was about to
carry the cross to the proper place on his shoulders, out of veneration for it,
he found that while wearing the imperial dress he could not move it, until, by
the advice of the patriarch Zachary, he laid aside his royal ornaments, dressed
himself plainly, took off his shoes, and in such manner made himself like the
humble Savior.
Introit of the Mass: “But it
behooves us to glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom is our
salvation, life, and resurrection”.
Prayer.
O God, Who on this day givest us joy by the annual solemnity of the exaltation
of the holy cross, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may deserve the reward of
His redemption in heaven Whose mystery we have known upon earth.
EPISTLE.
Phil ii. 5-11.
Brethren: Let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God: but emptied Himself, taking the form of a
servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He
humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.
For which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is
above all names: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that
are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And that every tongue should
confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.
GOSPEL.
John xii. 31-36.
At that time Jesus said to the multitudes of the Jews:
Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast
out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself.
(Now this He said, signifying what death He should die.) The multitude answered
Him: We have heard out of the law, that Christ abideth forever: and how sayest
Thou: The Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man? Jesus therefore
said to them: Yet a little while the light is among you. Walk whilst you have
the light, that the darkness overtake you not. And he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whither he goeth. Whilst you have the light, believe in the light
that you may be the children of light.
Instruction
on the Devotion of the Way of the Cross
What is the Holy Way of the Cross?
It is a devotional exercise by
which we meditate upon the passion and death of Jesus, and particularly upon
His last way of sorrows, from the house of Pilate to Mount Calvary. Tradition
testifies that after Christ’s ascension the Christians living in Jerusalem were
accustomed particularly to venerate the holy places which had been sanctified
by the passion of the divine Redeemer. But after Jerusalem fell into the hands
of the infidels, so that it became dangerous, and often impossible, to pass
over the ground which Our Lord had trod, the children of St. Francis of Assisi
began to erect in their churches the fourteen stations of the Way of the Cross,
by meditating on which the faithful might, in spirit, accompany the pilgrims to
Jerusalem on the way to Calvary, dwelling in thought on what Christ had
suffered for men. Station here means a place to pause, a resting point for
meditation. This devotion has been examined and approved by many Popes,
enriched with indulgences, and earnestly recommended to Christians. It may be
found in any prayer-book. No exercise is more profitable to our souls than
this.
What can bring before us the love
of God and the abominableness and frightfulness of sin in a more vivid manner
than the sufferings of the Godman?
How can we any longer indulge in
hate when we hear Jesus pray for His enemies?
How can we give ourselves up to
sensuality and lust when we see the divine Savior scourged, crowned with
thorns, and hanging on the cross?
How can we murmur at our trials
when we think that Jesus innocent takes up the cross for us guilty?
In truth, we should see our coldness and indifference
disappear, as ice melts in the heat, we should grow more and more zealous in
the way of virtue, if we would but rightly meditate upon the passion of Christ.
How are visits to the
Stations of the Cross to be made?
Rightly to visit the Stations of
the Cross, and to draw there from real benefit, we should at each station
consider with attention, with devotion and sorrow, what Jesus has done and
suffered for us. We should not content ourselves with merely reciting at each
station the proper prayers and meditations, but should pause, to impress upon
our hearts what is there represented, that we may be moved and quickened to
wholesome resolutions. In order to gain indulgences, we must endeavor to be in
the state of grace, and therefore at least, by way of beginning, we must have perfect contrition for our
sins.
Eucharistic
Stations of the Cross[3]
The
Wednesday, Friday and Saturday following September 14 marks one of the Ember
Days of the Church. See Ember
Days
for more information.
Things
to Do:[4]
Study different symbols and types of crosses,
history and/or significance. Then have an art project — creating own crosses,
using different media, including paper. See variations of crosses
for some ideas.
Learn and pray the prayer to Christ Crucified;
pray the Stations of the Cross. Point out particularly the phrase repeated at
each station:
We adore You, O Christ, and praise You,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
Study the history of St. Helena and Constantine,
especially St. Helena’s quest for finding the relics of Jesus.
Make sure that crucifixes are displayed
prominently throughout your home. Point out the crucifix in every room even to
the smallest ones. Your child's first word may be "Jesus"!
Explain the meaning of the Sign of the Cross to
your children and be sure that even the little ones are taught how to make it.
Encourage your children to make reparation for
sin; read about sacramentals.
Teach your children a short ejaculatory prayer
such as "Through the sign of the Cross deliver us from our enemies, O our
God!".
Make a dessert in the form of a cross or
decorated with a cross. Although usually made on Good Friday, Hot Cross Buns
would be appropriate for this day. Make a cross cake, either using a cross form
cake pan, or bake a sheet cake (recipe of choice). Once cool, cut the cake in
half, length ways. Then cut one of these sections in half width ways. This
makes three sections - one long and two shorts. Lay the long section onto a
serving plate. Set the two small sections next to the long section forming a
cross. Frost and decorate as desired.
Tradition holds that sweet basil grew over the
hill where St. Helena found the Holy Cross, so in Greece the faithful are given
sprigs of basil by the priest. Cook a basil pesto, tomato basil salad (with the
last of the summer tomatoes) or some other type of recipe that includes basil
and explain to the family.
More Ideas: Women for Faith and Family
and Catholic Encyclopedia.
Folklore has that the weather on the Ember Days
of this month (September 15, 17, and 18) will foretell the weather for three
successive months. So, Wednesday, September 15, will forecast the weather for
October; Friday, September 17, for November; and Saturday, September 18, for
December.
The Masculine Spirit[5]
In America, we are gradually seeing the wholesale destruction of the masculine spirit. We are so confused that many of us don’t know which bathroom to use.
Is
this just another attempt by Satan to kill the body as God created it?
Men and women need to value themselves and value
the beneficial characteristics of masculinity and to reject the false images of
being male. Men and women were created to be different. They were created to be
in partnership, neither one dominating the other, each using their God-given
gifts of gender for the benefit of the other and for the redemption of the
world. The spirit of man is action
oriented yet at times it is imperative that men to be fully men of God; must
borrow from the female spirit the art of reflection. We must become aware of
the wounds from our childhood that drive us toward destruction and trap us in
unhealthy behavior as adults. We must reflect on and learn from our mistakes,
so we are not doomed to repeat them. As we reflect, we can see most men fall
into one of four Archetypes—King, Warrior, Magician, and Lover. Archetypes are
blueprints, primordial images that affect how we think, feel, and react to
life’s situations. A balanced man can be all four simultaneously directing his
energy to the problem at hand, but problems come when a man gets stuck and
becomes trapped in one archetype. Each type has positive and negative
characteristics of which a balanced man can tap to be a hero or a villain.
Around the Corner
How to celebrate Sep 14th
To
stay true to National Sober
Day, try a mocktail or delicious non-alcoholic
drink.
After
your drive: Celebrate National
Rosa Tequila Day with a refreshing and zesty
glass of homemade rose tequila-infused lemonade.
For National Eat A Hoagie Day, whip up a hoagie sandwich for lunch.
National
Cream Filled Donut Day can be honored with a
sweet treat from your local bakery.
Gobstopper Day is all about nostalgia, enjoy a classic movie marathon.
Finally,
relax and destress with the calming activity of coloring for National
Coloring Day. Have a fantastic day packed with
diverse celebrations!
Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14th, are known as “Michaelmas
Embertide,” and they come near the beginning of Autumn (September 22nd) and
were formerly set aside as days of fasting and abstinence.
National
Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
Daily
Devotions
Unite
in the work of the Porters of St.
Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: Catholic
Politian’s and Leaders.
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: September
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
Rosary
September is the month when the Gospel steps out of the sanctuary and into the street. It is the month when faith becomes public witness, when interior conversion ripens into civic responsibility, when the Word made flesh confronts the world as it is and insists on the world as it should be. These four films trace that movement with clarity and fire.
Each Sunday reveals a different dimension of Gospel citizenship: the proclamation of Christ, the purification of motives, the sanctification of ordinary life, and the courage to resist injustice. Together they form a theology of renewal — personal, communal, and political.
• September 14 — Simon of the Desert (1965) Gospel as purification. Buñuel’s desert saint confronts the temptations of pride, spectacle, and spiritual vanity. Civic renewal cannot begin until the heart is cleansed of the desire to be admired rather than obedient.
• September 21 — Monsignor Quixote (1987) Gospel as companionship. A priest and a communist mayor wander Spain in a gentle, humorous pilgrimage of conscience. Their friendship becomes a model of civic charity: disagreement without contempt, conviction without cruelty.
• September 28 — Romero (1989) Gospel as resistance. Archbishop Óscar Romero discovers that pastoral care demands public courage. His transformation shows that the Gospel renews society not by avoiding conflict, but by standing with the vulnerable at any cost.
If you want, I can craft a liturgical header for the month, or individual Smoke‑style reflections for each film.
ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1955)
Charles Taylor • Thomas Mitchell • John Carradine Directed by Herbert B. Swope Jr. • CBS Climax! Anthology An American River Tale of Conscience, Escape, and the Slow Awakening of a Boy’s Moral Soul Where Rafts Become Sanctuaries, Deceivers Become Teachers, and a Child Learns the Cost of Freedom and the weight of choosing the good.
The 1955 television adaptation of Huckleberry Finn distills Twain’s great American parable into a brisk, morally charged adventure. Beneath its river escapades and frontier humor lies a spiritual warning: running from civilization does not free the conscience — it exposes it. Huck’s journey is not merely geographic; it is interior. He must decide whether he will be shaped by fear, by corruption, or by the quiet voice of truth rising within him.
Charles Taylor’s Huck is restless, sharp, and wounded — a boy who has seen too much of adult hypocrisy and too little of genuine love. Thomas Mitchell’s Pap Finn embodies the destructive pull of vice: charming, violent, selfish, and spiritually hollow. John Carradine’s Duke adds theatrical villainy, a reminder that deception often arrives dressed in sophistication. Through these encounters, Huck learns that freedom without virtue becomes another kind of captivity.
The film moves with the rhythm of the Mississippi: drifting, dangerous, and strangely holy. The raft becomes a floating confessional. The river becomes a moral testing ground. Each con, each escape, each betrayal forces Huck to confront the question he cannot avoid: What kind of person will I become? His final decision — to reject a “sivilized” life built on lies — is not rebellion but awakening. He chooses conscience over comfort, truth over pretense, and the open horizon over the prison of corrupted society.
This is Americana without sentimentality. The danger is deception. The fire is conscience. The verdict is the cost — and the grace — of choosing the good.
Film Card — Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1955)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1955 • Television Film • CBS Climax! Anthology
A restless boy flees abuse, hypocrisy, and corruption, drifting down the Mississippi on a raft that becomes his moral crucible. Along the river he confronts con men, false heirs, violent greed, and the question of what freedom truly means. Frontier Adventure • Moral Awakening • American Conscience Tale
Director Herbert B. Swope Jr.
Writer DeWitt Bodeen (teleplay), based on Mark Twain’s novel
Stars Charles Taylor, Thomas Mitchell, John Carradine, Bobby Hyatt
Studio CBS Television
Themes Conscience, deception, freedom, innocence, moral formation
1. Production & Cultural Setting
Golden Age Television Produced for CBS’s Climax! anthology, the film reflects early live‑television drama: intimate, character‑driven, morally direct.
Twain’s American Mythos The Mississippi River becomes a symbol of escape, testing, and the search for authentic freedom.
Thomas Mitchell’s Dark Gravity As Pap Finn, Mitchell embodies the destructive pull of vice — a warning against the spiritual collapse of adults who abandon virtue.
Carradine’s Theatrical Villainy The Duke’s charm masks corruption, teaching Huck that sophistication can be a disguise for exploitation.
Frontier Morality The stripped‑down setting reveals the soul’s choices more starkly: truth or deceit, courage or cowardice, conscience or corruption.
2. Story Summary
The Gold and the Cave Huck and Tom discover treasure, but wealth becomes a burden rather than a blessing.
The Kidnapping Pap Finn returns, driven by greed, and imprisons Huck in a remote cabin.
The Escape Huck flees downriver, seeking freedom from violence and hypocrisy.
The Con Men The Duke and Dauphin exploit innocence, impersonate heirs, and expose the moral rot of opportunism.
The Decision Huck rejects a false “civilized” life and chooses the open horizon — a life shaped by conscience rather than corruption.
3. Moral & Emotional Resonances
A. Freedom Requires Virtue Huck learns that escape alone cannot save the soul; only truth can.
B. Conscience Awakens in Crisis The raft becomes the place where Huck discovers the difference between running away and choosing rightly.
C. Deception Is a Spiritual Disease The Duke and Dauphin reveal how lies enslave both victim and perpetrator.
D. Innocence as Moral Compass Huck’s childlike honesty exposes the failures of the adults around him.
E. Choosing the Good Is Costly Huck’s final decision mirrors the soul’s pilgrimage: rejecting false comfort for authentic freedom.
4. Hospitality Pairing — Drawn From the Film’s Spirit
Food — Simple, Frontier, Honest Cornbread — the sustenance of wanderers. Salt pork — the fare of river travelers. Campfire apples — sweetness found in hardship.
Drink — Rustic, River‑Worn Tin‑cup coffee — bitter but strengthening. River water boiled for safety — purity reclaimed through fire.
Atmosphere — Raft at Twilight Lighting: Lantern glow on river water. Sound: Crickets, oars, distant thunder. Setting: Rough boards, rope coils, open sky. Symbol: The raft — conscience afloat in a world of deception.
5. Reflection Prompts
Where is my conscience calling me to choose truth over comfort.
Where have I mistaken escape for freedom.
Where do the deceivers in my life mask themselves as friends.
Where is God asking me to step off the shore and trust Him.
Where is the river of my life carrying me — toward virtue or away from it.
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