We
are a culture, in fact a race, of symbols.
Everything we do, everything we are, everything about us is expressed in
symbols. Shortly after our birth, we
were given a symbol – a name – a word made up of letters that uniquely
identifies you, and me. As we grew we
quickly learned language – sound and words and phrases and sentences – to
express and name the world around us.
And we have all kinds of symbols for every single thing and idea and
emotion in our lives.
You
see symbols are a way, the only way in fact, of calling something from our
memory into the present, into the front of our minds. A photo from my favorite vacation is only a
symbol of that vacation, but when I look at it, the vacation becomes real again,
and present, in my mind.
If
we wish to communicate ideas and emotions, that can only be done by symbols –
take the word love for instance. We have
many different ways of expressing the idea of “love,” just as there are many
different meanings for the word “love.” I
wear on my left hand a symbol of my love for my wife – a symbol of my
commitment to her for a lifetime, of my fidelity, of my giving myself to her, freely,
totally. The red heart is a famous
symbol of love – made all the more famous by Hallmark every February 14. American Sign Language has a couple of
symbols for love – this one (hand) and this one (cross forearms on chest).
But
the greatest symbol of love, and the symbol of the greatest love, is this (hold
up cross). The Cross of Jesus
Christ. You and I are gathered here together
this afternoon, to remember, to look upon the Cross and corpus – the dead Body
– of Our Lord, and in so doing, what happened on Calvary over 2000 years ago
becomes real, becomes present, is our minds.
You
see, as we meditate on the Cross, a host of things come to mind – This wooden
instrument of torture and death, a Roman symbol of fear and domination. We think of the mocking banner above His head
– “The King of the Jews.” The piercing
pain from the crown of thorns. The
suffering, the pain in each of His wounds, as nails split the flesh of His holy
hands and feet. The anguish of
abandonment, by His closest friends and even, seemingly, His Father.
But
above all, if we medicate on the wood of the Cross and LOVE doesn’t come to
mind, my sisters and brothers, we’ve missed the meaning of this day. For the Holy Cross is, above all, about love. For on this day, Our Blessed Lord turned this
symbol of death into the tree of life!
This symbol of domination and hate has become for us our greatest freedom,
the greatest symbol of love.
My
brothers and sisters, look upon the wood of the cross and ponder the amazing
love of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ponder for a
moment Our Lord’s love:
Ponder
His love for the Father, so much, so deep that He completely surrendered to His
Father’s will.
And
ponder Our Lord’s extravagant love for you, and for me.
A
love that continues even when you and I have denied Him and ignored Him and
abandoned Him by our sins.
A
love that isn’t content to watch us wallow in our sinfulness, far from Him and
His Father.
A
love that seeks us out, to bring us back to Him.
A
love in which He gives Himself completely and fully for each of us, to stand in
our place, to suffer, to die, to bear the punishment that rightfully belongs to
me and to you.
A
love which opens for us a torrent of His mercy which washes over us, mercy and
grace which gives us His power to reject sin and live in holiness.
A
love which opens for us the gates of heaven and eternal life!
My
brothers and sisters, as we come forward to venerate the cross, the greatest
symbol of love humankind has ever known, let us recall the amazing,
extravagant, exquisite love He has for each of us, let us praise Him with
gratitude, and let us resolve to love Him in return, with all our hearts, and
souls, and strength, and minds.
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