"Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The cross that is raised today is like a multi-faceted diamond. The cross that is raised is what our enemies, the enemies of the faith, call us; we are, "The People of the Cross."
We are the People of the Cross, this is how we are defined by the people who martyr our brother and sisters... "The People of the Cross" - that means you, and me, and all of us here, we are the People of the Cross.
And the cross is the revelation of who God is, the cross is the revelation of how God saves, the cross is the revelation also of what is behind human fear and violence. This is the same cross that today we see in our churches, the same cross that St. Paul said in his epistle I want to be crucified on, this is the cross that St. Paul says is the only reality he wants to know; "I only want to know among you Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
St. Augustine wrote his commentary on Psalm 37, something quite interesting, he says to the Christians, "Suffer in Christ, for Christ, so to say, sinned in your weakness, therefore the Lord's sufferings are our own sufferings." This is what St. Paul meant when he said to Corinthians, "I want to complete what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ" But how does the cross take away the sin of the world. How does the Lamb of God on the cross take away the sin of the world? How does the cross save?
To reflect on this question will help us to better live the mystery of the cross in our daily lives. The cross, the lamb of God, takes away the sins of the world by taking in our poison, our hatred, our inhumanity, our injustice, our evil, and our death, and what he gives back is instead mercy, love, forgiveness, freedom, and life. On the cross the Lord breathes in our evil, our hatred, our cruelty, and our death, and the moment when he dies, he breathes out, to us, the Holy Spirit. This exchange: our evil for His goodness, our hatred for His love, our death for His life, this exchange takes place through His Body. This is the suffering of the Cross.
We don't worship suffering for itself, but rather we worship the suffering of the crucified one. This is the Cross we venerate with joy today, this is the power that overcomes the world. As we adorn the cross with flowers and basil, it is not so we can jsut look at it and admire it, like a TV show, this is not a reality show. We raise the cross and St. Paul says, "So that we may, in our bodies, complete what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ," Colossians (1:24). That is why we venerate the Cross, to express our desire, our willingness, the use of our will to want and to desire to live in our lives in the logic of the Cross.
The church is the Body of Christ, broken throughout the ages because it continues to live in Christ - the lamb of God, the saving work of taking away the sin of the world. We join ourselves to Christ who takes away the sins of the world, so that we together with Him, by completing his sufferings, also participate in the taking away of the sins of the world.
The Lord says, "This is my Body, this is my Blood, do this in memory of Me," meaning the Eucharist that we have just celebrated, but also meaning be my body and blood, broken, shed, for the life of the world, for the church is the broken body of Christ, broken and shared throughout the ages.
Therefore today, you and I, we kiss the cross, yes, but we also take it up - that's what the Gospel says. Don't look at the cross, he says. Follow me, take up your cross and walk, take up the cross and walk the cross. Bring it into our families, our communities, our churches, our civil societies... all those places where there is tension, divisions, injustice, cruelty, harshness, judgement, envy, pettiness, gossip, exploitation, bitterness, persecution, cynicism, anger, and transform them, through the ascetical life, transform them, and give back love, graciousness, gentleness, blessing, compassion, forgiveness.
Where there is death, live and proclaim life!
Where there is death, live and proclaim the resurrection!
This is what it means to take up the cross and to follow the Lord everyday. Thus when we live this way, the cross is raised over and over again in the midst of the suffering world.
This, of course, is not easy. We like to return hatred for hatred, violence with violence, death with death, anger with anger, coldness with coldness, revenge with hurt. Someone hits me, I want to hit them back. Someone gossips about me, I want to gossip right back. But we acted this way, the sin remains within the community, and no amount of ritual or human philanthropy can change anything. To take in hatred and return love, this is what the Gospel means when it uses the word, "Love." This is the new commandment of the New Testament, "Love as I have loved." This love is the power of the Cross, this is the sacrificial aspect of love that we don't like to talk about too much - the excruciating pain of love. "Excruciō" comes from the Latin word crucio which means cross. Excruciating pain of love. This excruciating pain which returns love for hatred. Sometimes we see that monks are portrayed crucified on the cross, but anyone who is baptized, who lives a life of asceticism, is exactly that. This our call for all - on the cross, joined to Christ, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Someone I knew once said, "Don't think of becoming a Christian unless you think you look good on wood." This is the meaning of our baptism, and this is the location of everyone who is baptized, this is the real meaning of the ascetical life. This is what conquering the passions mean.
Today, hear and now, you kiss the Cross, and you smell the sweet basil - it is sweet and it is beautiful, but remember we do this so as to have the courage and the joy in our heart to live the Cross when we leave here and we go back to our daily lives. Lent is not a self-improving spiritual program, no, Lent is about the salvation of the world, and there is only one path of salvation, the path the today the church adorns with flowers and sweet basil - the path of the Cross. You and I either walk with Him, or we do not. "
+ P.R. Orthodox Priest in Toronto, Sunday of the Cross, April 2016
"O Cross of Christ, symbol of divine love and of human injustice, icon of the supreme sacrifice for love and of boundless selfishness even unto madness, instrument of death and the way of resurrection, sign of obedience and emblem of betrayal, the gallows of persecution and the banner of victory.
O Cross of Christ, today too we see you raised up in our sisters and brothers killed, burned alive, throats slit and decapitated by barbarous blades amid cowardly silence.
O Cross of Christ, today too we see you in the faces of children, of women and people, worn out and fearful, who flee from war and violence and who often only find death and many Pilates who wash their hands.
O Cross of Christ, image of love without end and way of the Resurrection, today too we see you in noble and upright persons who do good without seeking praise or admiration from others.
O Cross of Christ, today too we see you in the merciful who have found in mercy the greatest expression of justice and faith."
+ Pope Francis' Via Crucis Prayer: 'O Cross of Christ'
This is a festival day: at the awakening of Christ, death has fled away; The light of life has dawned; Adam has risen and dances for joy! Therefore let us cry aloud and sing a song of victory! This is the day of the veneration of the Precious Cross: now it is brought before us, shining with the brightness of Christ's Resurrection! Let us all draw near and kiss it with great rejoicing in our souls! Mighty Cross of the Lord, manifest yourself, showing me the divine vision of your beauty! Grant that I may worthily venerate you, for I speak to you and embrace you as alive! Let earth and heaven give praise with one accord, for the all-blessed Cross is now set out before us all. Christ's Body was nailed there when He was offered in sacrifice: Let us venerate it with great rejoicing in our souls!
+ From the Lenten Triodion, 3rd Sunday of Great Lent
Come, let us sing a new song to celebrate the conquering of hell, for Christ is risen from the tomb; He has taken death captive, saving the whole world! Come, all faithful, let us drink, not from a well of earthly water that passes away, but as we venerate the Cross of Christ, let us drink from the fountain of light, for His Cross is our glory! Now as we venerate Your Cross, which Moses once prefigured with his outstretched arms, we put to flight the invisible Amalek, O Christ our Master, and so we gain salvation! Faithful, let us joyfully venerate the Cross of the Lord with pure eyes and lips, singing a song of exultation!
+ From the Lenten Triodion, 3rd Sunday of Great Lent
You crushed death, O Christ, and rose as a mighty King, recalling us from the depths of hell! You brought us to the land of immortality, granting us the joy of the Kingdom of Heaven! Faithful, let us cry aloud with joy as we greet the Cross of the Lord. Let us sing triumphantly to God, for it is a fountain of holiness to all in the world! The words of the Psalmist are fulfilled, for behold, we worship at the footstool of Your most pure feet, at Your precious Cross, all-powerful Lord, the thrice-blessed Wood! We venerate Your Cross, merciful Lord: the Tree which the Prophet of lamentation saw with its fruit. and we sing in praise of Your bonds and tomb, of the spears and the nails. We kiss the holy Cross, O Christ, which You were pleased to bear on Your shoulders, on which You accepted to be lifted up and crucified in the flesh! We receive from it strength against our invisible enemies.
+ From the Lenten Triodion, 3rd Sunday of Great Lent
