To Live the Faith
The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

by H. Lyman Stebbins

God has asked us for our hearts and we, as members of CUF, have offered them to Him. Let us beg Him not to allow us to draw back but rather, by His grace, to give us an increase of faith and love.

In this month we celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. That should be for all of us the beginning, the content, and the end of the whole year.

What is the Cross? What does it signify for us and for mankind? Let us breathe in these words from the Greek liturgy for Good Friday:

Today, He who poised the earth upon the waters is poised upon the Cross. He that is King of angels is wreathed with a crown of thorns. . . . The Spouse of the Church is pierced with nails. The son of the Virgin is wounded with a spear. . . .

Mary, the Mother, saw her Lamb dragged to the slaughter and, in the company with the other women, followed Him, saying: “Whither goest thou, my Son? Wherefore this hurried step? Is it to a second marriage feast at Cana that thou thus hastenest, there to turn water into wine? Must I come with thee, my son? . . . O Word of the Father! speak one word to me. Pass me not by in silence. I thou, my Child and my God.” . . .

For our sake, O Jesus, thou didst permit thy whole sacred Body to be ignominiously tortured: thy head with thorns; thy face with spittle; thy cheeks with blows; thy mouth with vinegar and gall; thine ears with impious blasphemies; thy back with scourges; thy hand with a reed; thy whole body with the Cross; thy hands and feet with nails; thy side with a spear. O almighty Savior who didst suffer for us and by thy sufferings didst make us free! O thou who, out of love for man, didst humble thyself with us, that thus thou mightest exalt us! Have mercy on us!

. . . Fear and trembling fell upon thy creatures, O Lord, when thou didst ascend thy Cross. Yet wouldst thou not permit the earth to swallow up them that crucified thee; nay, thou gavest leave to death to set its captives free. Thou camest into the world, O Judge of the living and the dead that thou mightest bring, not death, but life. Glory be to thee, O Lover of mankind!

Cardinal Newman, our great patron, gazes upon the same sight with a wounded heart:

Our Lord’s death—how sudden it was! One day brought into the city in triumph; the next day plotted against, betrayed, and seized. God from all eternity . . . bliss, peace, calmness, glory, beauty, perfection from all eternity. . . .

Now look at that one only God. . . . He is still one, sole, and alone. He was one in heaven; He is one in the garden, one on the tree. He trod the winepress alone. . . . But though one and alone, how different! He who was glorious is to become a leper; He who was so peaceful has lost His rest. . . .

Let us gather round and look at Him whom God has punished, [whom we have ignominiously stapled to the wood of the Cross] as we fix noxious birds up. (from Sermon Notes)

The Imitation of Christ also addresses a word to us of CUF:

Jesus today has many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who carry His cross. . . . Plenty of people He finds to share His banquet, few to share His fast. Everyone desires to take part in His rejoicing, but few are willing to suffer anything for His sake. There are many that follow Jesus as far as the breaking of bread, few as far as drinking the cup of suffering . . . many that love Jesus as long as nothing runs counter to them; many that praise and bless Him, as long as they receive some comfort from Him; but should Jesus hide from them and leave them for a while, they fall to complaining or become deeply distressed. (Book 2, Chapter 11)

Those who profess to be followers of Christ fall into two categories, according to Thomas à Kempis. In which of the two do we truly find ourselves? Christ has emptied Himself for our sakes; in His limitless love for us—traitors all—He gave up the daily companionship of His Blessed Mother, He gave up the years of His life, He gave up His human will, He gave up His every creature comfort—having even no place to lay His head; He gave up life itself, allowing Himself to be drained to the very last drop of His Most Precious Blood, in His thirst for souls, in His longing to rescue each of us from the pit that, in our fallen nature, we dig ourselves into ever deeper. Having given Himself totally to us for our sakes, he begs us to give ourselves to Him, also for our sakes.

Oh, what a difference it would make throughout the world if only we few in CUF would listen more deeply and more lovingly; give ourselves more generously. Listen again to our Newman:

It is the death of the Eternal Word of God made flesh which is our great lesson how to think and how to speak of this world. His Cross has put its due value upon every thing which we see, upon all fortunes, all advantages, all ranks, all dignities, all pleasures; upon the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It has set a price upon the excitements, the rivalries, the hopes, the fears, the desires, the efforts, the triumphs of mortal man. . . . It has taught us how to live, how to use this world, what to expect, what to desire, what to hope. It is the tone into which all strains of this world’s music are ultimately to be resolved.

With the Cross as the measure, then, how do we of CUF measure up?

Adapted from the September 1982 issue of Lay Witness.

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