Father Christopher Zugger

We make the sign of the cross constantly in the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine Catholic Church. Sometimes we can do it casually, and rush through it.

St John the Baptist School 

When I was in 6th grade at St John the Baptist School in Kenmore, New York, the Mother General of the Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur who taught at our school came from Belgium. she began her talk to us by making the sign of the cross, saying out loud: In the Name of the Father and of … and she stopped. “Children, how can you already be done with this blessing and I have just started?”

Sisters of St. Mary of Namur, 1960

She then explained to us the power of the cross and what lies behind that simple action of blessing ourselves. Then she started again, deliberately, and all 1,430 children gathered for the assembly followed her in slow motion – quite an achievement, and one that I still remember. The gift of the cross is what we celebrate today, and St John Chrysostom’s sermon on the mystery of the cross sums it all up very well:

A virgin, a tree and a death were the symbols of our defeat. The virgin was Eve: she had not yet known man; the tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; the death was Adam’s penalty. But behold again a Virgin and a tree and a death, those symbols of defeat, become the symbols of his victory. For in place of Eve there is Mary; in place of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of the Cross; in place of the death of Adam, the death of Christ. Do you see him defeated by the very things through which he had conquered? At the foot of the tree the devil overcame Adam; at the foot of the tree Christ vanquished the devil. And that first tree sent men to Hades; this second one calls back even those who had already gone down there. Again, the former tree concealed man already despoiled and stripped; the second tree shows a naked victor on high for all to see. And that earlier death con- demned those who were born after it; this second death gives life again to those who were born before it. Who can tell the Lord’s mighty deeds? By death we were made immortal: these are the glorious deeds of the Cross. Have you understood the victory? Have you grasped how it was wrought? Learn now, how this victory was gained without any sweat or toil of ours. No weapons of ours were stained with blood; our feet did not stand in the front line of battle; we suffered no wounds; witnessed no tumults; and yet we obtained the victory. The battle was the Lord’s, the crown is ours. Since then victory is ours, let us imitate the soldiers, and with joyful voices sing the songs of victory. Let us praise the Lord and say, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? The Cross did all these wonderful things for us: the Cross is a war memorial erected against the demons, a sword against sin, the sword with which Christ slew the serpent. The Cross is the Father’s will, the glory of the Only-begotten, the Spirit’s exultation, the beauty of the angels, the guardian of the Church. Paul glories in the Cross; it is the rampart of the saints, it is the light of the whole world.

Enjoy this glorious feast tonight and tomorrow! 

Below: Hail O Cross, our only hope! (Ave Crux, spes unica!)