Feast of the Holy Cross (Sermon at the 10 am Mass)

The proper name of today’s Feast is the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In the year 326, in the newly Christian Roman Empire, the Empress Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, had come to Jerusalem on a mission to locate the sites of Golgotha and the Holy Sepulcher. She directed excavations at the place identified by local tradition; and, lo and behold, at the bottom of a cistern three crosses were found. The problem was that no one could tell which one was the Lord’s cross, and which two were the crosses of the thieves crucified with him.

At this point Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem intervened and proposed a solution. Crippled and sick people were brought to touch each of the three crosses. The one that produced miraculous healings was thus identified as the True Cross. Bishop Macarius then raised up the True Cross for all the people to see – and the Latin word verb to lift or raise up is exaltio. Hence the Exaltation of the Holy Cross really means the lifting or raising up of the Holy Cross. The paradox we celebrate today is the transformation of an instrument of shame and death into an effective sign of healing and life.

You may have noticed that following my name in print I often append the initials SSC. Occasionally, some have wondered if they stand for Saint Stephen’s Church – but, no, they’re actually the initials of the Latin name of the society of priests to which I belong, Societas Sanctae Crucis, the Society of the Holy Cross.

During the coming week, I’ll be traveling to St. Louis to attend the annual SSC Synod. This gathering is always held as near as possible to Holy Cross Day, the 14th of September. The Society of the Holy Cross originated in 1855 in the Church of England, when six priests met at a mission house in the Soho District of London to form as association for mutual support and encouragement, continuing priestly formation, practice of the spiritual disciplines, and the cultivation of personal holiness.

These men already knew well what it meant to take up the cross. They had already dedicated their lives and ministries to the Catholic revival in the Church of England. For this reason, they had already encountered hardship, privation, opposition, and costly personal sacrifices.

They found themselves excluded from the Church of England’s more comfortable livings. Instead, they had gone into the industrial slums of the English cities and had founded mission parishes in dangerous and squalid surroundings. Their efforts to reintroduce Catholic ritual and ceremonial into Anglican worship had drawn fierce opposition. Protestors occasionally disrupted their liturgies and sometimes riots even broke out in the streets around their churches. Their bishops often kept them at arm’s length and refused to visit their parishes out of disapproval of their ritual innovations.

The founders of the SSC understood that if they were to persevere in the face of such challenges, they needed to cultivate a systematic approach to the Christian life that would sustain and strengthen them in their work. Within a year of their founding, the SSC organized the first retreats held in the Church of England since the Reformation featuring extended periods of silence punctuated by spiritual addresses. Members of the Society took vows in which they committed themselves to a Rule of Life including daily Mass and daily recitation of the Divine Office.

These priests understood that to bear the cross that had been laid on their shoulders in the form of Catholic witness in the Church of England, they had to intentionally embrace a life of spiritual discipline and self-sacrifice. In this way, they would lift up the cross so that it might become a sign of healing and salvation in the lives of their flocks. So, to remind themselves of this dimension of their priestly vocation, they named their society after the Holy Cross.

The Feast of the Holy Cross reminds us that the same principle holds good for all Christians, not just for clerical members of a particular priestly society. All authentic Christian discipleship entails taking up the cross and following Jesus in one way or another.

This message is not particularly popular these days. Many people seem to want a version of Christianity that will meet their needs on their own terms – whether for spiritual comfort, aesthetic gratification, intellectual stimulation, or simply the fellowship of like minds and kindred spirits. But, as you’ve heard me say many times before, religious consumerism is the opposite of authentic Christian discipleship.

Every once in a while, someone comes into my office and tells me that they’re feeling spiritually dry and not getting anything much out of Sunday Mass anymore. My initial response is almost always to ask what else they’re doing to nurture their relationship with God the rest of the week. Are they setting aside a time for prayer every day? Are they reading any of the daily offices? Are they coming to any of the weekday Masses? Do they ever attend retreats or quiet days? How long has it been since they’ve made their confession?

It often seems to come as a surprise when I explain that the Anglo-Catholic way really comprises a complete package, of which these practices are integral components. While the Sunday Mass is the most important part of the package, it’s not fair to expect it to bear the weight of sustaining one’s spiritual life if one is neglecting all the other parts. The system is a comprehensive whole, and each part works best only when all the other parts are working as well. So, if you want to get more out of Sunday Mass, you need to put in more – and not just on Sundays but throughout the week as well.

At this point, the person sometimes protests. I’m already doing everything I can. My life is too difficult; I’m being pulled in too many different directions; there are too many demands on my time and attention. But that’s precisely the point. Already a cross is laid on your shoulders. The best way to find the strength to bear that cross is by practicing the spiritual disciplines that will help you face all the other demands and challenges of your life.

It’s difficult but not impossible. We can’t always expect the practice of Christianity to be easy, comfortable, or convenient. There are indeed times when it requires hard work and positive self-sacrifice.

The promise of Holy Cross Day, however, is that the way of the cross is the only true path to genuine fulfillment, joy, happiness, and peace. By having suffered and died upon it, Our Blessed Lord has transformed the cross from an instrument of shame and death into a sign of forgiveness, healing, hope, and salvation. But in a sense, it’s not enough just to take up the cross and follow Jesus. Like Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem so many centuries ago, we’re called to lift up the cross and raise it on high, so that people may look upon it and be saved.