Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross 2023

It doesn't take much observation to see that

we are celebrating, commemorating the cross,

the crucifixion of our Lord today. We're at the

midpoint of Lent, and so the Church, in her wisdom,

offers us the chance to venerate the cross, not

just to think about it or to talk about it, the

blessing by kissing it and venerating it and

contemplating the words that you just heard.

Let me put this gospel in context because Jesus

isn't just, as usual, just talking about religious

things out of the blue. He didn't just have a

religious thought and he wanted to offer it to

people. The Gospel of Mark is short. This reading

today comes in the exact middle, just like what

we're celebrating, the middle of Lent. Three

weeks we're going to be celebrating Lazarus Saturday.

It's an important connection here, which I'll

make, I hope, in just a moment. This wall painting

is now completed. It's magnificent, and I thank

Anton for his work. This gospel takes place in

the middle of the gospel of Mark. The gospel

of Mark is short. If you want to read the gospels,

go to Mark first. It begins with the baptism,

and then immediately Christ is casting out demons.

He's healing people, paralyzed man, deaf people,

people with demons. and blind people. And just

before the account you heard, Christ heals a

blind man. And you see that he's giving sight

to the blind, spiritual vision, understanding

of who he is, the Son of God. But those that

say they can see are getting blinder and blinder,

more and more blind. They can't see, and they

harden themselves against the message. They oppose

it. And Jesus gathers his apostles together.

And he says, who do people here say that I am?

And, you know, he hears answers. Some say John

the Baptist. You're John the Baptist, risen from

the dead. Some say you're Elijah the prophet

because Elijah must come again, we understand.

And he was taken up in a chariot of fire. He

didn't die. And Jesus says to them, the group,

but whom say ye, all of you, that I am? And Peter,

of course, steps up to answer for the group.

Thou art the Christ, the Messiah. And Jesus says,

don't tell anyone. Why? Because people's idea

of the Messiah is that he's going to come in

on a big horse like the Maccabees with power

and military might and attack the Romans and

take the land back. Don't tell anyone. In fact,

he began to teach them. Exactly the opposite

of power. What does he say to them? The son of

man, that's himself, that's how he calls himself,

must suffer many things and be rejected by his

own people, by the elders, by the scribes, the

chief priests, and be killed. And after three

days, rise again. Of course, they don't hear

that last part. Be killed. And Peter takes him

aside. Master, this is not a good PR message.

You're going to lose people with this kind of

talk. Let's be more positive in our approach

to the message you have. Be seeker friendly.

And Jesus... rebuked him. He called him Satan.

Get behind me. You speak of the things of man,

not of the things of God. And then Jesus immediately

calls people together, not just the apostles,

but all the people around him. And he says, these

hard words, whoever will come after me, let that

person Deny himself. Pick up the cross. What

do they hear? The cross. The cross is an instrument

of horrible, horrible suffering, pain, shame,

and death. And power by the military might. Let

him pick up his cross and follow me. For whoever

will save his life shall lose it. Whoever will

lose his life for my sake and the gospels shall

save it. Because what will the profit a person?

You gain the entire world, riches, power, everything

you want, all the pleasures of life. And lose

your soul. What will a man give in exchange for

his soul? Pretty much nothing. If it satisfies

the yearnings that are limited to the ground.

Who will be ashamed of me and my words in this

adulterous and sinful generation? Do those words

strike you oddly? This adulterous and sinful

generation? You think things have gotten better

since then? Of him also the Son of Man shall

be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his

Father with the holy angels. The central event

that is recorded by St. Mark is this. The central

event in the life of Jesus Christ is the cross,

which leads to the resurrection. The central,

most important thing And the life of a disciple

of Jesus Christ must be taking this message clearly

and seriously and every day. I've read numerous

sermons, incredible sermons about the Holy Cross.

I can't tell you those things that those saints

can tell you. But what I can tell you is this.

The cross of Christ. represents three things

for us. The first thing it represents is the

rejection of God. The world reveals its evil,

its violence. All the Auschwitzes, all the abortions,

all the hatreds, all the rape. You name the horrible

persecution and violence. That's what the cross

shows. It shows us all that is evil and opposed

to God. Otherwise, Jesus would not be led to

the cross, but he willingly goes to reveal all

that for what it is. Opposition to God. But it

also reveals the second thing. The incredible

love of God and his forgiveness. Because he goes.

to destroy death, and the choir just sang those

magnificent words. Return again to paradise.

That's what the cross gives us because we are

united to Jesus Christ when we pick up our cross

and we oppose in ourselves all those things which

are seeds in us of the horrible tragedies and

sins that we see in the world. We have that within

us, brothers and sisters, those seeds. When we

oppose hatred and anger and resentment, when

we fast, we say no to ourself, and our willpower

muscle gets a little stronger, as I tell the

catechumens, that we might not yell at the guy

in the car next to us because we fasted a little

bit. then we might not fall into temptation of

those things that are continually hounding us,

that we become addicted to, the impulses and

convulsions. The cross reveals the love of God,

and we enter into that love, not by strength,

but by weakness, which is why we fast. That's

how we deny ourself, literally deny. And the

cross reveals one other thing. When we kiss it,

when we cross ourself with it, we receive the

power from on high, the grace of God, the love

of God, the forgiveness of God, all the blessings

of the cross. And then we can look at that fresco

up there, which most of you can't see. It shows

Martha coming to Jesus. said, Lord, if you had

been here, my brother wouldn't have died. It's

what St. John Chrysostom said in a sermon. God,

why don't you do something? What could he do,

St. John Chrysostom asks, except that he was

born of a virgin. He suffered. He healed the

blind. He healed the paralyzed. He fed the hungry.

He forgave the sinners. He opened the doors of

paradise. He went to the cross. And the most

eloquent words of the Lord are silent. The word

himself on the cross, dead. God has done everything

for us. And so he asks Martha, do you believe?

And that's what we are asked to do today. When

we stand and then kneel before the cross, those

words of the gospel about picking up our cross,

do we believe that we shall be changed? We spend

so much time asking ourselves how we feel about

ourselves that we've forgotten to ask, what shall

we become? We are mirror images of God. Totally

broken, each one of us. but we shall become like

him as he is. I am the resurrection and the life,

he says. Do you believe? Let us not just say

with our lips, but with all our life, making

the central fact of our life, like any disciple,

the holy and precious cross. Amen.