Salvation Comes from the Cross

September 14th Readings Reflection: Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Let the Sign of the Cross be continually made on the heart, on the mouth, on the forehead, at table, at the bath, in bed, coming in and going out, in joy and sadness, sitting, standing, speaking, walking—in short, in all our actions. Let us make it on our breasts and all our members, that we may be entirely covered with this invincible armor of Christians.
~ St. Gaudentius

Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a feast that commemorates St. Helena’s discovery of the True Cross of Christ in the 4th century. St. Helena was the mother of Emperor Constantine, who legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire. The Cross is a fundamental aspect of Christianity, and as such, it has continually come under attack throughout the Church’s existence.

Even during Our Lord’s public ministry, many tried to reject the Cross. When St. Peter rebuked Our Lord for speaking of His Passion and death on the Cross, Jesus replied, “Go behind [M]e, Satan,…thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men” (Mt 16:24 DRB). Our Lord required little of His followers, except that each “deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow [M]e” (Mt 16:24).

St. Rose of Lima famously said, “Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to Heaven.” We cannot come to the Father except through Christ (cf. Jn 14:6), and we cannot come to Christ except through the cross. When Our Lord met two of His disciples on the Road to Emmaus, He called them “foolish, and slow of heart” (Lk 24:25) for their failure to recognize the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies in His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. If we, like the disciples, are scandalized by the Cross, then we are scandalized by Christ Himself, Who chose to die upon the Cross as a Ransom for the sins of the world.

Since the earliest days of the Church, the Cross has been closely associated with Christianity. In the first few centuries A.D., the Christians used secular symbols as religious art in order to avoid persecution. The anchor was the earliest symbol of the cross. To a pagan who was potentially seeking out Christians to kill them, the image was merely an anchor; to the Christians, however, the anchor symbolized “hope based on the Cross of Christ” (Catholic Encyclopedia). Even in the midst of persecution, the early Christians professed their faith by means of the Cross.

Anchor Cross in the Catacombs of St. Callixtus. Source: Flickr

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us the infinite importance of the Cross: “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 [H]im may have eternal life.... For God did not send [H]is Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through [H]im.”

The only condemnation that comes from Christ and the Cross is the just punishment that comes from rejecting Christ and the Cross. If we embrace the Cross and boldly proclaim it even in the midst of opposition and persecution as did the early Christians, the Cross will be the means of our salvation. If, on the other hand, we reject the Cross and by extension the One Who died on it, the Cross will indeed be the means of our condemnation. The greatest suffering in Hell is that of being eternally separated from God, Who alone fulfills our deepest longings. We cannot attain true union with God if we reject the Cross.

Our Lord is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6). As Christ showed us throughout His earthly ministry, the Resurrection can only be attained through a complete surrender to the Cross. May we always live according to the way of the Cross, knowing that this way will truly lead us to eternal life.

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Public domain