Feast of the Holy Cross – 3/15/2009

Today, the 3rd Sunday of Lent, March 15th of 2009, is the feast of the Holy Cross, celebrated by the Byzantine rite Churches… Below is a message and a prayer by Archbishop Cyril Bustros of the Melkite Church (with emphasis added).

Sunday of the Holy Cross – The Cross is never seen in the Christian faith apart from the Resurrection. Because love is stronger than death, the reward of love is Resurrection, the eternal life, as St. John wrote in his first epistle: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers” (1 john 3:14). And that is out victory as St. John said in the same epistle: “Any one who was born from God has already overcome the world; this is the victory over the world: our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Holy Cross Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, as we come to revere your Cross today, we revere not wood or metal, but the symbol of the greatest victory mankind has ever known: Your victory over sin and death, a victory in which we all share through Baptism and faith, a victory which has changed hatred into love and murder into forgiveness.

Be always with us to help us to be ourselves the sign of Your Cross in the world of today: to spread light where there is darkness, love where there is hate, hope where there is despair, to give a cup of cold water where there is thirst, and a piece of bread where there is hunger, and above all to give to everyone the bread of life. Amen.

~ by alwyn on March 16, 2009.