Sunday of the Cross

O Christ, Your precious Cross gives us hope, direction and the ability to go forward. We are midway through Lent…probably not earth-shattering news…but have we considered what this means in our hurried lives? This Sunday, our new assistant Bishop will process with the Cross between Orthros and Divine Liturgy (to give it proper elevation). It is not a splinter of the Cross, as I supposed, but rather a small piece which is both visible and fragrant. Blessed Helena found the Cross and knew it was our Savior’s firstly because growing upon it was the aromatic herb basil, and secondly, after putting a dead man upon it, he resurrected to life. How can such wonderous events be true? How can we the faithful make sense of death and life? Here is the secret to our faith, we are not asked to suspend our belief to accept the Christian faith, but rather we have a cloud of witnesses who attest to our faith even to the point of spilling blood and enduring earthly death.

So here, at the midpoint of Lent, we are witnesses to the lifting up of the Life-Giving Cross of Christ. It was once a symbol of fear and death but now transformed as the symbol, par excellence, of hope and life. May we treasure in our lives the myriad of tangible elements that show us the reality of Christ’s resurrection. May we be blessed to venerate and behold the earthly cross that we be counted worthy to partake in Christ’s Glorious Resurrection. Kali thinami, good strength, as we look forward to Great and Holy Pascha!