The Emblem of Suffering and Shame

This morning’s lessons remind us that the riches God has allowed us to accumulate carry a responsibility. We are to use them with compassion, remembering the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. What we possess becomes an opportunity to make God’s care visible in the lives of others.

This theme continues with the Epistle and the Gospel. I’d like to focus on “the emblem of suffering and shame,” as the old hymn, The Old Rugged Cross, phrases it, since tomorrow, September 14th, is the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

In my homily for September 11th, I spoke of Cantor Fitzgerald and its care for bereaved families after that terrible loss. That example brings the lesson close to home: generosity gives substance to compassion. Faith bears fruit when we place what we have at the service of those who need our help.

Yet even as we acknowledge this responsibility, we know our frailty. We can become possessive of our blessings, proud of our achievements, and fearful that tomorrow will leave us without enough. Today’s Collect therefore asks God to uphold his Church with perpetual mercy, protecting us from what harms us and leading us towards what serves our salvation.

The Epistle and Gospel speak directly to those temptations. Saint Paul directs our confidence towards the Cross of Jesus Christ, where we learn how completely we depend upon his saving love. Our Lord then addresses our anxious hearts, teaching us to seek first the kingdom of God and to trust our heavenly Father’s care.

Together, these readings call us to receive gratefully, give generously, and trust more deeply. As Holy Cross Day approaches tomorrow, we turn to the Cross to discover again the love that makes such a life possible.

Saint Helena’s Pilgrimage

Tomorrow, on Holy Cross Day, we remember Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine. Already advanced in years, she travelled to the Holy Land in the fourth century, visiting the places associated with our Lord’s earthly life. Christian tradition remembers her as the discoverer of the True Cross in Jerusalem. Her pilgrimage is well attested, though the account of her finding the Cross comes to us through later writers.

There is something deeply human in her desire to draw near to the place where our salvation was accomplished. We treasure things associated with those we love; Christians have likewise treasured the wood upon which their Saviour suffered.

Yet Paul helps us understand where such reverence must lead. To glory in the Cross is to place our trust in the love and sacrifice of him who hung upon it. As we remember Helena’s search, we might ask whether we seek Christ with the same earnestness — and whether his Cross has begun to shape our hearts, our choices, and our love for one another.

The Old Rugged Cross

The Old Rugged Cross gives a heartfelt expression to Paul’s words. The world sees disgrace and defeat in the Cross; we see the love of the Saviour who willingly suffered for our redemption. That is why something so terrible can become something so deeply cherished.

Helena sought the wood of the Cross; the old hymn invites each of us to cherish what happened there. Its preciousness comes from the Saviour who gave himself upon it. When we sing of laying down our trophies, we echo Saint Paul: our greatest glory is what Christ has done for us. And when we pledge ourselves to the Cross, we accept that following him may cost us the world’s approval. We can bear that loss because we belong to him, and our hope rests in the life he promises.

Kept Near the Cross

The image of the Cross may help us grow in faith by stilling our wandering thoughts and directing our hearts towards our Saviour. We worship him who suffered and died upon it, and who rose again from the dead, that we might die to sin and rise with him to newness of life.

As we contemplate the Cross, we remember the depth of his love and learn to entrust ourselves more fully to his care. Its place in our devotion serves this purpose: to bring us nearer to the living Christ, whose mercy sustains our frailty and whose grace transforms our hearts.

Let Us Pray

The Collect of the Day, for September 14th, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: O God, who hast vouchsafed to redeem the human race by the precious Blood of thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: mercifully grant, that we who come together to adore his life-giving Cross may be delivered from the bonds of our sins. Through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.