Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - 14 September 2014

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

The historical context of this feast is the anniversary of the dedication in 326, of the Basilica the Anastasis (or as the West calls it, the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem). This was built over the sites of Golgotha and the garden tomb by Constantine, following his mother St Helena’s pilgrimage and discovery of ‘the life giving cross’ and inscription above it in this place. It also commemorates a later recovery from the Persians of the relic of the Cross!

Whatever we may think of these stories, this feast is an ancient and powerful expression of a deeply rooted theology of ultimate hope and triumph brought about by Christ’s death and resurrection. Theodore the Studite (758-826) wrote: ‘In the cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise: it is wholly beautiful to behold and good to taste. The fruit of this tree is not death but life , not darkness but light. This tree does not a cast us out of paradise, but opens the way for our return’.

There’s something hugely important being said here, this echoes Paul’s hymn of emptying ( kenosis in Philippians 2:6-11) where Christ goes right to the depths, to death itself, so that nothing we experience can be untouched by God . We gaze at the King of Glory hanging on the cross, but also at every human and living creature that has died, especially in torment and suffering, and as we do so, we know we can call on the name of Jesus and be heard and lifted up out of the mess of death into life!

There is no magical answer to problems of suffering, but there is a way of life given us by Jesus and an assurance of His abiding presence. The sign and image of the cross is the badge of hope. In these dark days, when religious persecution and human rights abuses seem to proliferate across the globe, particularly for Middle Eastern Christians, we need to recover our religious symbols and use them.

Let’s do several positive things, take back the holy name of God from those who abuse and misuse it. Use the name of the Lord Jesus reverently and with love, and make the sign of the cross part of our daily life and prayer. In these simple acts we give great witness to our faith!

Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern Rite Chaplain for the Melkite Greek Catholics in Britain.