Triumph of The Cross
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, for by Thy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.
Triumph of the Cross
This day is also called the Exaltation of the Cross, Elevation of the Cross, Holy Cross Day, Holy Rood Day, or Roodmas. The liturgy of the Cross is a triumphant liturgy. When Moses lifted up the bronze serpent over the people, it was a foreshadowing of the salvation through Jesus when he was lifted up on the Cross. Our Mother Church sings of the triumph of the Cross, the instrument of our redemption. To follow Christ we must take up his cross, follow him and become obedient until death, even if it means death on the cross. We identify with Christ on the Cross and become co-redeemers, sharing in His cross.
The Sign of the Cross we make over ourselves before prayer helps to fix our minds and hearts to God. After prayer we make it to keep close to God. During trials and temptations our strength and protection is the Sign of the Cross. At Baptism we are sealed with the Sign of the Cross, signifying the fullness of redemption and that we belong to Christ. Let us look to the cross frequently, and realize that when we make the Sign of the Cross we give our entire self to God — mind, soul, heart, body, will, thoughts.
O cross, you are the glorious sign of victory.Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus.
(Sources: Catholic Culture and Women for Faith and Family)
Relic of the True Cross
A piece of the True Cross discovered by Saint Helena, the Emperor Constantine’s mother, and brought back to Rome in Fourth Century. To house the single most significant relic in Christianity, St. Helen built the Basilica of Santa Croce in Rome, where a large piece of the cross is kept to this day. Skeptics have said that if all the relics of the True Cross were put together there would be enough wood for two or three crosses. However, in 1870 a Frenchman, Rohault de Fleury, catalogued all the relics of the True Cross including relics that were said to have existed but were lost. He measured the existing relics and estimated the volume of the missing ones. Then he added up the figures and discovered that the fragments, if glued together, would not have made up more than one-third of a cross.
The veneration of the True Cross finds its origin in the legend of Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, who is said have unearthed three crosses at Golgotha, and is said to have verified though a series of miracles which was the True Cross of Christ. Pilgrims returning from Jerusalem, and later from Rome, took relics with them and disseminated them in different parts of the world.
The roots of devotion to the Cross, to the instruments of the Passion, and to other objects associated with the life of Christ are long, deep and strong in the piety of the Christian people, beginning with pilgrims in Jerusalem and continuing to our own day.
So strong has the practice of the veneration of the Cross been in Christian history that it has found its way into the Liturgy of Good Friday, where all the faithful are invited to demonstrate their reverence for the Cross of the One whose wounds have healed us. The veneration of the Cross on Good Friday is an expression of our faith and hope in Christ whose Paschal Mystery we celebrate and share in most fully in the Easter celebration of the Resurrection.
(Taken from Apostolate of Holy Relics)
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