Weekly Meditation
Yesterday we Catholics around the world celebrated the Feast of the Exultation (Triumph) of the Holy Cross. The cross is a central and essential reality of our faith and a prominent symbol of what it means to follow Christ. In faith and love we embrace the cross. We proudly display it on our Catholic church buildings and reverence the crucifix in private devotion and when, as a worshipping community, we celebrate Mass.
St. Paul whom we are honoring in this Pauline Year spent his life preaching Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead. At Mass we profess our faith: "Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory." In our meditations on the passion of Jesus we proclaim: "We adore you O Christ, and we praise you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."
"Therefore, the cross is something wonderfully great and honorable. It is great because through the cross the many noble acts of Christ found their consummation -- very many indeed, for both his miracles and his sufferings were fully rewarded with victory. The cross is honorable because it is both the sign of God's sufferings and the trophy of his victory. It stands for his suffering because on it he freely suffered unto death. But it is also his trophy because it was the means by which the devil was wounded and death conquered; the barred gates of hell were smashed, and the cross became the one common salvation of the whole world."
-- St. Andrew of Crete, bishop
Second Reading, Liturgy of the Hours
Bishop William R. Houck
President Emeritus, Catholic Extension