EXALTATION OF THE CROSS

 14 SEPTEMBER 2020: NUMBERS 21. 4B-9; PHILIPPIANS 2. 6-11; JOHN 3. 13-17: EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS

Focus: Cross for us is not a parking lot but is a guiding signal; Cross is not a problem of misery but an emblem and path to glory

1.     Today we exalt the cross. But the exaltation of the cross does not mean the exaltation of suffering, of misery, desperation, isolation, betrayal, jealousy, selfishness or cruelty. Yes, apparently and from a human perspective, cross stands for and indicates all these.

2.     But it is not any cross. It is the cross of the crucified Saviour. Cross cannot be isolated or dissociated from the crucified. For, it is that cross, sanctified by him, that cross which is transformed from a tool of misery and punition, from a sign of evil and criminality, into a symbol of perseverance, an instrument and means of salvation and glory. Therefore, cross as it stands for suffering, is not glorified in itself, but only in its relation to the crucified. Death on the cross is not a helpless submission to one’s miserable fate. Rather it is a conscious, determined, committed and noble act of self-offering to God’s will for our sanctification.

3.     Thus, the exaltation of the cross means the exaltation of the spirit, the value, the thrust and the goal of the cross. Cross stands for taking a stand for Christ, for values, for the gospel. Cross means standing for a cause. It calls for a relation of intimacy, loyalty and commitment to the crucified. Cross is a matter of standing for a cause, for a person, a matter of fidelity and of dedication.

4.     Cross means facing consequences, bearing suffering for the sake of Christ and his values. Cross is a call to be vertical-oriented, heaven-directed, in line with Fulton J. Sheen’ thought that ‘a cross is made when the horizontal bar is placed against the vertical bar, i.e. self-will is put against God’s will. Therefore, make and carry the cross of placing God’s will across self-will and interests.

5.     Cross is a call to be a “contrast” people, in the light of St Paul’s assertion that “to the Jews, a stumbling block, and a folly to the gentiles, but for us, the believers, Christ, the crucified is the Power and Wisdom of God”. We live in a world which is so permissible, where any false value is allowed, justified and even promoted, in the garb of the modern, change, and reading the signs of times. What is wrong has a free hand and is considered as a matter of intelligence, while the right is labelled as a block, as a folly. This is really powerlessness, without the inner power, the spiritual power, the moral power. This is really folly.

6.     In such a society, we as the bearers of the cross and followers of the crucified, are called to be stumbling blocks, positive signs of contradiction and folly, i.e. resistant and contrast. Therefore, let us not easily get upset when we are beset with crosses of unfavourable situations; let us turn them into learning and growing experiences of purification and sanctification, and also gracious occasions to suffer and offer for God and good. Our crosses become glorified, if they are for God’s sake and his values’ sake

 

Direction: As followers of the Crucified, we are to be cross-bearers who pass through the crucible of suffering