Behold the Wood of the Cross

Behold the wood of the Cross on which hung the salvation of the world.  Come let us adore.  With these words the Church holds high the Cross upon which Jesus offered that selfless sacrifice for the redemption of the world, the forgiveness of sins, and to restore once again the order of God's creation.  There is no more powerful and moving devotion today than the Veneration of the Cross, the opportunity that each person has to approach the Cross of Jesus and embrace it with a kiss, with some sign of what the Cross means for our eternal salvation. People will stand in line for hours just to offer their veneration and prayer,   We won't be able to do that in this year in the course of the Good Friday service.  But it is something that we can and should do at home.  Gaze upon the Cross.  Kiss the Cross of Jesus.  Draw close to those final moments in the life of Jesus before he breathed his last breath in his human nature out of love for God's people.

We cannot begin to imagine the pain and suffering that Jesus bore for our sins. But Good Friday invites each of us to walk those steps with Jesus as we read the Passion, as we reflect on those steps on the way to Calvary, as we imagine the love that radiated from the heart of our Savior as he offered salvation to the thief hanging next to him, or the beautiful gaze that fell upon his beloved Mother and his beloved disciple and the few others who stood at the foot of Cross.  It was here that Jesus gave to us the treasured gift of Mary.  "Behold your Mother; behold you son."  With these words Jesus entrusted us to the unconditional and precious love of Mary, our mother and the Mother of the Church.  Forever she is joined to us in that loving embrace of joyful faith.  What an advocate and protector we have in Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of Sorrows and the Mother of all Consolation.

For non-believers the Cross is a scandal and a folly; for believers it is the Tree of Life and source of our hope and eternal joy.  We enter the sufferings of Jesus today as best we can in our weakness and limitations.  But we do so confident of what the Cross means to all who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  The Cross stands as the fulfillment of God's promises to us - that God's love is stronger than evil and sin; that life does conquer death; that hope will always dispel despair and fear.  "I will be with always until the end of time."

How our hearts long for those words especially today.  Be not afraid.  Have no fear.  Live in the hope of the Cross on Cavalry.  Jesus died for our sins and vanquished death once and for all.  As we gaze on the Cross of our Savior, may we feel his loving gaze on us, a love so great that he offered his life for our salvation, a love the invites our response of faith, obedience and trust.  Come let us adore.

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