O Magnum Pietatis Opus

Exaltation of the Holy Cross
September 14, 2014

"O GREAT WORK OF LOVE: that death then died when Life was dead upon the Cross." 

What could possibly be more grotesque, more heinous a symbol than this instrument of torture and laborious execution, used wantonly by the Romans to shame, maim and drain the last breath of life out of all manner of criminal and traitor? And yet how victorious it stands in its glory; the profoundest of all symbols of love; the most potent symbol of life; and the eternal symbol of salvation. It is the wood of the Cross on which hung the Saviour of the world.

It is the greatest mystery of our faith that God so loved the world that he condescended to the frailty of human life in the person of Jesus Christ; and being at once true God and true man he gave what only man may give to gain for mankind what only God may give: his death, for the destruction of death and the restoration of life everlasting. For from time immemorial, God has willed that his chosen people, our fathers in the faith, should regain that which they had lost in Adam, through faithfulness to the covenant, that time and again He had offered them for their salvation. But despite the wonders, the prophets, the conquests, the Promised Land, the kings given by God as signs of his faithfulness, yet still Israel would not believe. In an abundant outpouring of love, therefore, God offered himself through the Incarnation of Christ, as the perfect fulfilment of the Law and the perfect sacrifice Whose death would reconcile mankind with God for ever more. It is with this in mind that St. Augustine asks, “What may not the hearts of believers promise themselves as the gift of God’s grace, when for their sake God’s only Son, co-eternal with the Father, was not content only to be born as man from human stock but even died at the hands of the men he had created?” 

St. Augustine elsewhere exhorts, “In order to be healed from sin, gaze upon Christ crucified!”  And that is precisely what we are called upon to do today, as the Church invites us to exalt the glorious Cross of the Saviour and adore Him who took upon Himself the burden of our sin in order that we should have eternal life. Wherever you are reading this article now, take a moment and find a Cross and spend some time looking upon the Crucified One. See, in the words of Pope Benedict XVI, how “the instrument of torture which, on Good Friday manifested God’s judgement on the world, has become a source of life, pardon, mercy, a sign of reconciliation and peace.”  Understand what Christ has done for you on the Cross. Understand and rejoice.

Rejoice for Christ has turned this symbol of death into a source of life; the tears of defeat into shouts of victory; the weakness of human flesh into the strength of Almighty God. And what an icon of strength the Cross is, and what faith it inspires that the Apostles Peter, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Simon and Jude are believed to have embraced the same death as their saviour rather than deny their faith in Him. And today, the Holy Cross still stands as a courageous witness to lives lived in the spirit of the Gospel; a symbol of hope, of safety, of peace in a world that is increasingly full of despair, war, and hatred. And we too, like the Apostles, are called to live the way of the Cross with the strength and conviction that it inspires; to obey the command of Christ to take up our cross daily and follow him. But what does this mean for us? It means a willingness to accept, with faith in the providence of God, the means of healing that the Cross of Christ offers. It means accepting that we need Him, and grasping the foot of the Cross, as the tempests of the modern world try to tear us apart. It means, when catastrophes fall, that we keep the faith, as did Noah. It means that, when sacrifice is demanded of us, we offer ourselves with faith, whole-heartedly into the hands of God, as did Abraham. It means suffering whatever the world throws at us with patience and a stubborn trust in the love of God, as did Job. It means knowing that no trial, no pain, no hardship or misery can ever be more arduous than that already suffered by the innocent Lamb of God, Whose Cross is your triumph, your life and your glory in Him Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.