36. BITESIZE CATECHISM: THE DOUBLE-FEASTS OF THE HOLY CROSS WITH OUR LADY OF SORROWS & THE SIGN OF THE CROSS

APPETIZER: It is love "to the end" that confers on Christ's sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he offered his life. Now "the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died." No one, not even the holiest, was ever able to take on himself the sins of all people and offer himself as a sacrifice for all. The existence in Christ of the Divine Person of the Son, who at once surpasses and embraces all human persons, and constitutes himself as the Head of all humankind, makes possible his redemptive sacrifice for all.  The Church emphasizes the unique character of Christ's sacrifice as "the source of eternal salvation" and teaches that "his most holy Passion on the wood of the cross merited justification for us." And the Church venerates his cross as she sings in her liturgy: "Hail, O Cross, our only hope." The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the "one mediator between God and humankind"..Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven." (CCC #615-618)

MAIN COURSE: To the eyes of the first Christians, the cross had no beauty. It stood outside too many city walls, decorated only with decaying corpses, as a threat to anyone who defied Rome’s authority—including Christians who refused sacrifice to Roman gods. Although believers spoke of the cross as the instrument of salvation, it seldom appeared in Christian art until after the Emperor Constantine’s edict of toleration, making Christianity a legal religion in 313 AD.

Early in the 4th century, Saint Helena, Constantine's mother, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy places of Christ’s life. She had the second-century Temple of Aphrodite torn down, which tradition held was built over the Savior’s tomb, and her son built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher on that spot. During the excavation, workers found three crosses. Ancient stories tell that the one on which Jesus died was identified when its touch healed a dying woman.

The Holy Cross immediately became an object of veneration. At a Good Friday celebration in Jerusalem toward the end of the 4th century, according to an eyewitness, the wood was taken out of its silver container and placed on a table together with the inscription Pilate ordered placed above Jesus’ head: Then all the people passed through one by one; bowing down, touching the cross and the inscription, first with their foreheads, then with their eyes; and then kissing the cross.  This is where we get our tradition of venerating the Holy Cross at our Good Friday services.

To this day, the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox alike, celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the September 14th, the anniversary of the basilica’s dedication. The cross is today the universal image of Christ and of Christian belief. Countless generations of artists have turned it into a thing of beauty to be carried in procession, enshrined in churches, hung upon the walls of our homes or worn as a sign of faith.  

The gesture of the Sign of the Cross is the most popular prayer used by Christians today and is both one of the shortest and most spiritually powerful of all prayers.  While being simple enough for a toddler to learn, it carries within it two of the most important doctrines central to Christianity.  The words we recite while making the Sign of the Cross profess our belief in the truth of the Blessed Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The gesture we make proclaims our trust in the saving death of God the Son become human, Jesus the Crucified Savior. The Church and her Saints have consistently asserted that the sign of the cross is: a confession of faith; a renewal of baptism; a mark of discipleship; an acceptance of suffering; a defense against the devil; and a wonder-working instrument of miracles.

Closely associated with the Feast of the Holy Cross on Sept. 14, is the feast of Mary under her title, Our Lady of Sorrows celebrated the next day, Sept. 15. Just as the feast of the Holy Cross reminds us of Jesus' ultimate gift of himself out of love for us, so the feast of the Sorrowful Mother recalls that Mary was intimately associated with him in the offering of this gift. Mary stood fearlessly at the cross while others fled. Mary looked on her Son’s wounds with pity, but saw in them the salvation of the world. As Jesus hung on the cross, Mary did not fear to be killed, but freely and bravely exposed herself to his persecutors. When Jesus gave the beloved disciple to Mary, we were represented by him at the foot of the cross. As Mary mothered Jesus, she became mother to all his followers in every generation.

DOGGIE-BAG: A little something to take with you for spiritual snacking...

Holy Quotes...showing that the prayer of the Sign of the Cross has been used since the earliest days of Christianity.

"At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign of the cross." (Tertullian, ancient Church writer, 225 AD)

"All believers make the sign of the cross in whatsoever work they begin upon, and especially at the beginning of prayers, or of holy readings..." (Origen, ancient Christian writer, 285 AD)

"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, 410 AD)

"Whatever may be the temptations that oppress us, we must repulse them. For this end we should make, not carelessly, but carefully, the sign of the cross, either on our forehead or on our breast." (St. Gregory of Tours, 594 AD)

The Prayer: Hail Holy Cross Our Strength

Hail, O holy Cross, our strength.

Hail, O adorable Cross, our praise and glory.

Hail, O Cross, our help and refuge.

Hail, O Cross, consolation of all the mournful.

Hail, O Cross, our victory and hope.

Hail, O Cross, our defense and our life.

Hail, O Cross, our liberation and redemption.

Hail, O Cross, our sign of salvation and bulwark against the enemy.

May the Cross be for me always hope of my faith.

May the Cross be for me resurrection in my death.

May the Cross be for me triumph against demons.

May the Cross be for me mother of my consolation.

May the Cross be for me rest in my tribulations.

May the Cross be for me support in my old age.

May the Cross be for me healing in my illness.

May the Cross be for me protection in my nudity.

May the Cross be for me consolation in my life.

May the Cross be for me solace in all my difficulties.

May the Cross be for me balm in my tribulations.

May the Cross be for me medicine to my infirmities and protection against all my enemies.

Amen.

Prayer to Mary, Mother of Sorrows

O my Mother Holy Mary,

I deliver myself to your faithful protection and your special care,now, for every day, and at the hour of my death.

I seek refuge in the bosom of your love,

and I entrust my body and soul to Jesus through your hands.

I entrust all my hopes and consolations,

all my sufferings and miseries, my life and its end

that through your most holy intercession and your merits,

all my works may be directed and performed

according to the will of your Son.

O my Lady! O my Mother! I wholly offer myself to you, and to give you a proof of my love, I now consecrate to you my eyes, my mouth, my ears, my heart, and in a word my whole being. Since therefore I am yours, O Good Mother,

preserve and defend me as your own child. Amen.