April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
REFLECTION
What's the exaltation of the cross?
Sept. 14 is a wonderful example of this, as we celebrate the "Exaltation of the Cross," - or, as it is sometimes known, "the Triumph of the Cross."
What exactly are we celebrating? The feast is a reminder that the cross is the Christian symbol. The cross is at the heart of our faith. The first prayer we learn is the sign of the cross. We bless ourselves with the sign of the cross, for example, when we bless ourselves with holy water as we enter a church. We receive the blessing at the end of the Mass with the sign of the cross. We usually begin and end our prayers with the sign of the cross.
Many of us wear a cross - not just as an item of jewelry, but as a sign of our faith and a sign that we are disciples of the Lord, crucified and risen for us. There have been controversies about the removal of crosses in classrooms or when a speaker is coming to a college. A few years ago, an employee of an airline was fired because she refused to remove a cross she wore to work (and won her appeal against this action in the European Court of Human Rights).
The cross is the Christian sign, but it is so much more: It is a living and potent symbol, full of meaning and significance. It takes us into a deeper reality: We become part of Jesus' own death and resurrection, for "the cross has become the tree of life for us."
This is expressed in one of the mystery of faith responses we say at Mass: "Save us, Savior of the world, for by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free." St. John of Damascus expressed the deeper and symbolic mystery of the cross in this way:
"The cross is a shield and a trophy of victory;
it is the promise that we will not be overcome by death.
The cross is God's instrument to lift up those who have fallen
and to support those who are still on their feet.
The cross is our constant goal as we advance,
the very wellspring of our body and soul.
It is indeed the seed of the resurrection and the tree of life eternal."
Jesus asks us to take up our cross and follow Him (Mt 16:24). Often, we can be perplexed or even fearful of such a request, because we or those we love have experienced heavy crosses - even crosses almost too much to bear. Who would willingly wish to take up a cross?
Thinking of this, back in the 1980s, one Christian denomination employed a well-known advertising company to help them re-brand or re-package their message to attract more people to the church. After much deliberation, the advertising executives told the church leaders that the first thing they would have to do was get rid of their brand symbol: the cross or crucifix!
"It is just not appealing or attractive," they said. "How can you use an instrument of cruel execution and pain to attract people to buy into your product?"
Under the misunderstanding of those ad executives, there is a point about the "scandal" of the cross. However, Sunday's feast celebrates the exaltation or the triumph of the cross - what we might call the passage from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. We celebrate not suffering, hurt or an instrument of execution, but the one who died and rose for us and who has shown us the way to journey from trials and suffering to life and joy.
This is why we venerate the cross on Good Friday and why we can truthfully call Good Friday "good!" After all, how often have we heard someone say when speaking of a crisis in life, "If it were not for my faith, I could not have gotten through it."
This hymn, written more than 1,400 years ago (and often sung on Good Friday), speaks about this triumph or exaltation of the cross: "Faithful cross the saints relied on, noble tree beyond compare! Never was there such a scion, never leaf or flower so rare. Sweet the timber, sweet the iron, sweet the burden that they bare!"
May we experience this triumph and exaltation of the cross - both in terms of what the Lord has done for us, and also as we face the cross in trials and tribulations in our life or in the lives of those we love.
(Father Barratt is pastor of St. Ambrose parish in Latham. He holds a doctorate in theology and was a professor at St. John's Seminary in England before coming to the U.S. in 2004.)[[In-content Ad]]
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