Pondering the Triumph of the Cross

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 8:13 pm by Elizabeth Scalia

Pondering the Triumph of the Cross 2015-03-13T20:13:24+00:00 Elizabeth Scalia

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When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself. – John 12:32

I love Webster Bull’s new blog, Why I am Catholic; he’s a terrific writer who manages to convey wonder and joy in every post, and he makes me take renewed joy in being Catholic. But what I most love about the blog is that it has provided me with kind of daily spiritual spritz of windshield cleaner; now, each day, I find myself encountering something and thinking, “it’s one of the reasons I love Catholicism…” and feeling grateful (and as we all know, the road to joy goes right through the hazy town of Effortless Gratitude). Today, opening my breviary, I thought, “I love this; I love praying the Hours each day, noting and sanctifying time in this way, so that each moment is brought to our attention as new.”

Realizing it was the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, and that tomorrow is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, I thought, “I love this; I love that we sanctify the hours, and the days -that we assign feast days and memorials which keep us connected to Scripture, to important events in the life of Christ, which is the life of Salvation; to those who went before us, to the Communion of Saints. In this way, we are surrounded, all day, every day, with our own history and our future, and with the truth that the All-in-All is outside of time. That time is a constructed illusion which takes us away from God. Enter into the feasts, the memorials, the days and hours, and you are outside of time, “All” together.

The Exaltation of the Cross consists in the fact that “the event of the cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1085. We exalt Christ’s cross whenever we freely take it up, filled with the certainty that the ultimate meaning and fulfillment which we crave in life comes to us through this unending event. “With the cross we are freed from the restraint of the enemy and we clutch on to the strength of salvation (St. Theodorus the Estudite). For salvation means escape from our own inability. At the same time, “we cannot produce of give any other fruit,” writes St. Catherine of Siena, “but the fruit we have taken from the tree of life.” No wonder that “the sign of the cross makes kings of all those reborn in Christ.” (St. Leo the Great). (Magnificat musings before Mass)

Darn that Deacon Greg; he works a lot faster than I do, and he used both the picture and one of the little blurbs I was going to use, today.

But I, of course, subscribe to Magnificat Magazine (and I rarely say others should do anything, I don’t like “should”-ing all over people, but if you’re inclined to prayer and short on time, you should get this magazine). Here’s some of the terrific stuff I gleaned from it, for today:

The cross, instrument of torture and death, raised aloft as a sign of glory, continues to confound the wisdome of this world. God’s work of salvation stands human expectations on their head: humility is exaltation, wounds are healing, death is life. (Thoughts before Morning Prayer, written, I believe, by a Benedictine of St. Walburga’s Abbey )

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son intot he world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. – John 3:13-17

The lifting up of Jesus on the cross heightened the hatred of those that rejected him, and exalted and deepened the faith of those whose hearts were open to him. If you read all four passion accounts, you can even see that John’s faith in Jesus was strengthened by the fact that he stood before the cross.
. . .Both Jews and Gentiles rejected Jesus that day. Both Jews and Gentiles believed in Jesus that day. The cross has thus blurred the distinction between Jew and Gentile, but has starkly delineated the distinction between believer and no-believer.
– Fr. Richard Veras “What is Crucial About the Cross”

“The serpent’s venom has been washed away by the blood of Christ, and the curse of the sin has been lifted by a rightful sentence when the just Christ was condemned unjustly. By god’s plan, death that had come from atree would be conquered by a tree, and suffering would be healed by the suffering of the Lord. Glory be to the active presence of your providence in our lives, O Christ our King: through it, you have wrought ssalvation for all.
– From the book Byzantine Daily Worship

This morning, after praying Morning Prayer and the Office of Readings, I sat for a while on the floor, before the beautiful crucifix which stands by the grace and generosity of God on my oratory. I placed myself at the feet of Christ Crucified, and I prayed for all of us -because we all have crosses to bear- but especially for those whose names I know. Dianne, who is 49 and facing a heart problem. Young Ben, who suffered a heart attack on the soccer field and is still battling to stay alive. Jack, who is facing an important phone call about the rest of his life. Nicholas and Lillian, both autistic, and their loving parents who labor for them every day, lovingly. Terry and her children, dealing with a mentally ill husband/father.

Praying for those, for all of us, I think back to that first quote I offered, which is just jam-packed with meat on which to feed throughout this day: those lines from the Catechism, “the event of the cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.” How profoundly true. And yet increasingly the “wisdom of the world” is to draw things away from life, de-emphasizing the lives of those individuals upon whom society as as whole may deem a “burden” and over-emphasizing the “welfare of all,” -the nameless, faceless “all”- the amorphous blob that is actually nothing and no one, and remains nothing and no one, until the individuals within are known.

The compassionate folks who deem it the better part of wisdom that 90% of all babies suspected of having Down Syndrome be aborted, that individual people suffering the ravages of age, illness or accident may be persuaded that their lives are not worth living, they probably do not realize that as they draw everything away from life, they are acting in a manner that is profoundly anti-Christ.

And, “We exalt Christ’s cross whenever we freely take it up, filled with the certainty that the ultimate meaning and fulfillment which we crave in life comes to us through this unending event…” well, we know how that speaks to me, yes?

Yes, those wonderful musings before Mass, provided by Magnificat…my lectio for the day.

Also, check out Julie’s thoughts. She finds herself “haunted” by something else she read in Magnificat. Read her whole piece; she links to other goodies.

Also: St. John Chysostom and the Cross, the Fountain of Life

Also, on the Salesian front, good news!

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