Friday, September 13, 2013

The Radiant Mystery of the Holy Cross




It is often difficult for those outside of the Christian faith to understand the power and significance of the Cross for those who call upon Christ as Savior and Lord. For us, it is both a sign of God’s complete identification with us in love—a love that meant immense suffering—and an emblem of victory over all that separates us from God, each other, and the entire Cosmos. As St. Paul so clearly puts it in Galatians 6:15, the Cross is for us the trophy of a new creation, one built on love, truth, compassion, and Holy Wisdom.

The Feast of the Holy Cross emphasizes the triumph and joy of the Cross, in a way rather different from the other great commemoration of the Cross each year---Good Friday. Together, they both tell us something about what is, in the end, a Holy Mystery.

The extracts below from a sermon on the Cross by St. Andrew of Crete express well this unique and mysterious form of joy that we find in the Cross. These words are often used as a separate reading at the Daily Prayers on Holy Cross Day. May they encourage us all to see the joy—as well as the solemnity—of the Cross we bear upon our brow, signed upon us in baptism and again at confirmation.


We are celebrating the feast of the cross which drove away darkness and brought in the light. As we keep this feast, we are lifted up with the crucified Christ, leaving behind us earth and sin so that we may gain the things above. So great and outstanding a possession is the cross that he who wins it has won a treasure. Rightly could I call this treasure the fairest of all fair things and the costliest, in fact as well as in name, for on it and through it and for its sake the riches of salvation that had been lost were restored to us.


Had there been no cross, Christ could not have been crucified. Had there been no cross, life itself could not have been nailed to the tree. And if life had not been nailed to it, there would be no streams of immortality pouring from Christ’s side, blood and water for the world’s cleansing. The legal bond of our sin would not be cancelled, we should not have attained our freedom, we should not have enjoyed the fruit of the tree of life and the gates of paradise would not stand open. Had there been no cross, death would not have been trodden underfoot, nor hell despoiled.


Therefore, the cross is something wonderfully great and honorable. It is great because through the cross the many noble acts of Christ found their consummation - very many indeed, for both his miracles and his sufferings were fully rewarded with victory. The cross is honorable because it is both the sign of God’s suffering and the trophy of his victory. It stands for his suffering because on it he freely suffered unto death. But it is also his trophy because it was the means by which the devil was wounded and death conquered; the barred gates of hell were smashed, and the cross became the one common salvation of the whole world.


The cross is called Christ’s glory; it is saluted as his triumph. We recognize it as the cup he longed to drink and the climax of the sufferings he endured for our sake. As to the cross being Christ’s glory, listen to his words: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and in him God is glorified, and God will glorify him at once. And again: Father, glorify me with the glory I had with you before the world came to be. And once more: “Father, glorify your name”. Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it and will glorify it again”. Here he speaks of the glory that would accrue to him through the cross. And if you would understand that the cross is Christ’s triumph, hear what he himself also said: When I am lifted up, then I will draw all men to myself. Now you can see that the cross is Christ’s glory and triumph.

St. Andrew of Crete (c. 660-740)
(Oratio 10 in Exaltatione sanctae crucis:
PG 97, 1018-1019, 1022-23)

The Collect for the Feast of the Holy Cross

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world to himself: Mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

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