Glory in the Cross

The entrance antiphon for the Mass in honor of today's feast, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross sums up the core message of the Good News: "We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he is our salvation, our life and our resurrection; through him we are saved and made free." (based on Gal 6:14). St. Paul loves to tout the logic of God in contrast to the logic of the world. The cross in the time of Jesus and Paul was the ultimate sign of ignominy, akin to the Electric Chair today. Yet Paul uses it as a sign of victory and glory, turning it into a throne for the King of Kings.
Today's feast stems from the recovery of the true cross found by St. Helena in 326, by the Emperor Heraclius of Constantinople who rescued it from the Persians who had taken it to Persia when they sacked Jerusalem in 614. Heraclius and his army invaded Persia and took the cross to Jerusalem, where he, barefoot and wearing sackcloth as a penitent, carried it to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Thus was the cross exalted historically.
The spiritual exaltation, is, however, its service as a vehicle for the triumph of Jesus over evil, and our salvation.
For us, it remains a challenge as we deal every day with some "cross", some pain, some difficult situation, or a sense of our own inadequacy which causes more often than not, to wince and cringe when we look back and things we've said and done. How can we "glory in the cross" with St. Paul who says definitively: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world" (Gal 6:14)? Using this verse as a frequent prayer (as we Marist Brothers do each time we put the crucifix on with our habits) helps us to integrate the realization that it is for our very faults and sins that Jesus mounted the cross to free us and save us from damnation, even our own, self-imposed "damnation". When we put our focus on him and his great act of love and forgiveness, then we can sense the relief and exlatation that comes with embracing the cross, and with him, come to glory in it. It might be a good idea to look closely at the crucifix today and let Jesus help us transform the ignomious parts of our life into occasions for growth and glory.
Bro. Rene