(The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde at the Scroll Mass for the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher at the Franciscan Monastery, Washington, D.C., on Sept. 14.)
Of all the signs and symbols connected with Christianity, what is the most known and visible? Is it not the cross? Indeed, it is! The cross is displayed atop churches, schools, houses of residence for priests and religious and hospitals, to name but several. The cross is worn by many people suspended on a chain or affixed as a pin. The garb of the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher is marked by the Jerusalem cross. We begin and end our prayers with the sign of the cross. The sacraments and the sacramentals incorporate the sign of the cross. We ask the Lord to bless our food and our gatherings, making the sign of the cross. All this is so beautifully summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “The Christian begins his day, his prayers and his activities with the Sign of the Cross: 'in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.' The baptized person dedicates the day to the glory of God and calls on the Savior's grace which lets him act in the Spirit as a child of the Father. The sign of the cross strengthens us in temptations and difficulties” (no. 2157).
The very tangible and frequently used sign of the cross is, in its own way, our response to the invitation expressed in today's Psalm refrain: “Do not forget the works of the Lord.” Indeed, there are many works of the Lord, but the greatest of His works is His saving us from sin and eternal death by the dying of Jesus on the cross and His being raised up to new life on the third day. As we proclaim over and over again in the Stations of the Cross, “We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.”
Why did God desire to save us? He loves us beyond our imagining and because of this love, He desires that we be closely united with Him, now and after our death, forever. Today's gospel account unequivocally tells us that “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.” Yes, God's love is made visible and present in Jesus, His only Son, who willingly took up our human nature and died on the cross to save us. St. Paul makes this abundantly clear in today's second reading. “Christ Jesus, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”
How aware and appreciative are we of the Lord's saving love revealed by the triumph of the cross? Do we allow His saving love to triumph in us, that is, to enter our lives and free us from sin, to transform and save us?
How do we allow the Lord's saving love revealed by the triumph of the cross to transform and save us? By daily prayer, by the reception of the sacraments, especially the sacraments of the Eucharist and reconciliation, and by living a holy life.
Living a holy life means making the symbol or sign of the cross a lived reality in our daily lives. Living a holy life means allowing the cross to triumph within our lives. Again, as the Catechism teaches: “All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (no. 2013). “The way of perfection passes by the way of the cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle” (no. 2015).
Each of us here has his or her own individual vocation: priesthood, consecrated life, married life, single life. But, I repeat, each of us is called to be holy. That means bearing the cross in some form or other. That means letting the cross of Jesus triumph in us as we seek to live out faithfully our responsibilities as priests, religious, married persons, singles persons.
Loving God and loving one another " the two-fold great commandment " demands conversion and dying to oneself. When loving God (the vertical bar) and loving others (the horizontal bar) intersect, the cross becomes real. And in surrendering to the power of the cross in countless ways each day, we indeed experience the Triumph of the Cross " its power to transform and to save " within us.
We who are Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher are especially marked by the cross. In our love of God and others, in our service to Christ's Mystical Body, the Church, we must be examples to all of God's holy people.
Yes, the cross is our most known and visible symbol. But, it must be more than a symbol or sign if we are truly Christ's disciples. The reality of the cross must be lived by us and in us every day until we reach the glory of eternal life which Christ won for us by dying on the cross and experience the triumph of the cross forever in heaven.
(This homily courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)
