Homily for the Installation of Fr. Miguel Ruiz as Pastor of All Souls Parish
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
September 14, 2025
Introduction
It is a happy occasion that brings me here today, and I am grateful and happy to be with you to celebrate this installation Mass of Fr. Miguel as your new pastor. I must also express words of gratitude to your outgoing pastor, Fr. Kasimir, for his pastoral leadership here at All Souls parish. He has accomplished a lot of good here, and it gives me reassurance that the parish will now pass into the competent hands of Fr. Miguel.
Historical Background
This Sunday is a little different from the sequence of Sundays we have been celebrating during these Sundays of Ordinary Time, because it is a special feast day that marks today which takes precedence over the Sunday Mass, the feast day of the “Exaltation of the Holy Cross.” The origin of this feast is quite ancient, going back to the seventh century.
The story is told that in the year 629 A.D. the Roman Emperor went to Jerusalem to recover the remains of the Cross on which our Lord was crucified. It is said that the emperor intended to carry the pieces of the Cross in his own shoulders into the city with great pomp and glory, but he stopped suddenly at the entrance to the holy places and found that he was not able to go forward.
The patriarch of Jerusalem at the time, standing at the emperor’s side, suggested to him that his imperial splendor was hardly consistent with the humble appearance of Christ when he carried the Cross through the streets of that city. So the Emperor laid aside all the ornate insignia of his office, put on simple clothes, and went along barefoot in the procession. He then could enter, and he devoutly replaced the Cross where it had been before.
Spiritual Meaning
The recounting of this story conveys the very meaning of the mystery of the Cross. In fact, the title of this feast day alone is already a tipoff. It is, indeed, quite ironic: the “Exaltation of the Holy Cross.” The cross in ancient Roman times was an instrument of torture and execution, a symbol of shame. Why on earth would we want to exalt – to lift up, to esteem, to look up to – an instrument of the most painful and ignominious death imaginable?
Well, what does our Lord himself tell us in the Gospel we just heard for this Mass today? “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man … [who must] be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” This “lifted up” means lifted up on the Cross, the raising of the Cross. The Lord himself came down from heaven to be lifted up on the Cross, the ultimate humiliation, to then return to his heavenly Father in glory. It is the movement of being lowered and then lifted up. This is what St. Paul tells us in that ancient Christian hymn we just heard in his Letter to the Philippians: “Christ Jesus … emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, … he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name …”
This is the path to heaven, and Jesus has paved it for us by going there first. And this is the pattern we see repeated all throughout the Bible: those who are proud God brings low, and the lowly he exalts on high. Our Blessed Mother is the perfect icon of this pattern in God’s plan of salvation, which she extols in her hymn of praise to God, the Magnificat, at her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth who was about to give birth to St. John the Baptist: “[The Lord] has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”
Lived Out
Why should God will that this be the path to our salvation? If you think about it, and take notice, it becomes obvious that pride leaves no room for love. The lowly are the ones who can love, because they understand the beauty of respecting others and treating them with kindness and generosity. And it is love that exalts the human condition, whereas pride tears everything down and ends up making everyone miserable. This truth is becoming ever more obvious in the contemporary culture in which we live.
Which is why, as I said, I am happy and grateful to be with you today. I know that this parish of All Souls is a very active and vibrant one, with your diverse community involved in the works that proclaim the Gospel to the community here. This is the fruit of living this pattern of lowering oneself so that God may exalt us. That exaltation is seen in the vibrancy of the community living its faith – but living their faith in communion, under the direction and pastoral care of their pastor.
Which is why I am grateful to Fr. Miguel for accepting this invitation to come here as pastor of All Souls parish. I am grateful to him for the ministry he has already exercised here in our Archdiocese at St. Kevin’s parish, and, I know, which he will continue here. But again, it is only in the bonds of communion that we can accomplish these works for God, and this is the reason for the bishop or his delegate celebrating this rite of a pastor taking possession of his parish. The bishop really is the focal point of the communion of the local church, which for us is the three counties that comprise the Archdiocese of San Francisco: San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin. It is my privilege as the Archbishop here to see all the good that is accomplished all throughout these three counties of our Archdiocese, often unseen to the wider community.
Conclusion
I want, then, to take advantage of this opportunity to express my thanks to the entire Society of the Divine Word for the pastoral commitment of their priests to our Archdiocese. They carry out their pastoral responsibilities faithfully and with true pastoral charity and ardor for the Gospel, and are always attentive to preserving and building up that communion in the faith. In that spirit of communion, then, we will proceed now to the rite of installation, when Fr. Miguel officially assumes the office of pastor of All Souls parish.
