The
Catholics tend to associate the Cross with Lent. In fact, during Lenten season
into the Holy Week, we journey with Jesus to the Calvary, where the Cross stood
for Jesus to die. As Bishop Fulton J. Sheen said, unless there is a Good Friday
in our life, there can be no Easter Sunday, there would not have been the
Resurrection without the Cross. Because the Cross is indispensable to the
Resurrection, it is not simply a symbol of the sorrowful death of Jesus but
rather a powerful symbol of the victory of life in God over death.
According
to Genesis, death entered into human life through the Original Sin of Adam and
Eve. And, they were seduced into committing the Original Sin by Satan, who was
in the form of serpent in the Garden of Eden. In other words, it was Satan in
serpent, who brought death into human life by seducing Adam and Eve into
committing the Original Sin. Therefore, death is an effect of Satan upon the
humans through the Original Sin. However, the Cross, on which Jesus died, was
necessary for Christ overcome death through the Resurrection, as prophetically
hinted in Isaiah 52-53.Thus, the Cross is a triumphant symbol of life in the
risen Christ over an effect of Satan, alluding to God’s victory over Satan in
Revelation 20.
In Genesis 3, Satan, who infused death into humans,
appeared as a serpent that tricked Adam and Eve into committing the Original
Sin. In the first reading for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross,
Numbers 21:4-9, the Israelites on Exodus rebelled against God. Because of this
sin of theirs, they died from snake bites. This can be compared to the fact
that the rebellion of Adam and Eve against God by smitten by a snake let death
entered into human life. Though a snake was a killer to those who sinned in
this story, it was transformed into an object that brings healing, after God
made Moses make bronze serpents sticking to a pole.
The transition of a snake from what killed into what
healed the rebelled Israelites in Numbers 21:4-9 is reflected in the theme of
the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
As a snake was associated with death before God
helped Moses made bronze snakes, making snakes a symbol of healing, the Cross
before the death and the resurrection of Jesus symbolized the most shameful and
humiliating execution. However, through the Son’s death and resurrection, the
Father has turned the Cross into a powerful symbol of the victory of His power
over Satan’s power. This victory, indeed, further leads to Christ’s ultimate
victory over Satan in Revelation 20. Thus, the celebrating the victorious feast
of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross not only remembers Christ’s victory over
death but also his victory over Satan, who brought death to the humans through
Adam and Eve.
Speaking of victory, it is also what connects the
triumphant feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14 to the
celebration of the Holy Name of Mary on September 12. Though, this Marian feast
is to celebrate Mary as the Theotokos
– the Mother of God, this feast also comes with a victorious impression,
relating to European history.
In 1529, Vienna was conquered by the Ottoman Empire –
the Siege of Vienna, as the Muslim Turks were advancing further into Western Europe.
But, in 1868, John Sobieski, the King of Poland, entrusted the his army to the
mantle of protection of Mary for the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Because the
battle turned out to bring victory to the Holy League, including King Sobieski’s
Polish-Lithuanian army, and redeeming Vienna back to the Christian control (the
Holy Roman Empire) from the hands of the Muslim power of the Ottoman Empire.
Thus, it has been believed that the Holy Name of Mary, the Mother of God,
guided the Christian Holy League to its victory and redemption of Vienna.
Celebrating not only the triumphant power of Mary’s
Holy Name but also the victorious power of the Holy Cross of the Christ make
September a truly joyous month.
That being said, the Cross, though Jesus transformed
its symbolic meaning from shame into victory, is a sure reminder of sorrow.
If you look at the Cross, its vertical line shoots
up toward heaven. But, its other side is deeply grounded on earth. And, it is
where we exist now and always struggling with multitudes of consequences of
what Satan in serpent, had brought into our life, through Adam and Eve. One of
the gravest consequences of the influence of Satan in us is the sin of killing
Christ on the Cross. And, it is the greatest shameful act of sin that the
humans have committed.
As this most shameful sin of the humans was killing
Christ in agony on the Cross, Mary, the Mother of Christ, remained at the foot
of the Cross, watching her son die. As Simeon predicted in Luke 2:35, while
Jesus was still a baby, presented to the Lord as the first-born son in the
Temple, according to the law in Exodus 13:2, 12, Mary’s heart was pierced by
the sword of sorrow and grief. It was when Jesus was truly offered up to God,
as the first-born to redeem us, in light of the Jewish law of offering
sacrifice to reconcile with God. This is the significance of Good Friday,
filled with sorry and grief. But, it was indispensable for the Resurrection to
prove the victory of the Cross – to transform the Cross from a symbol of shame
and death into the symbol of the victory of God’s power over Satan’s power –
setting the pretext to God’s ultimate victory over Satan, through Christ
victory over Dragon, great serpent, in Revelation 20. Therefore, the period
between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is the period to prepare to move upward
on the vertical line of the Cross: from the sorry on earth, as Mary experienced
at the foot of the Cross, to the new eschatological hope rising with the
Resurrection of Christ.
On the following day, September 15, the Memorial of
Our Lady of Sorrows, is commemorated, in sequence to celebrating the victory of
the Holy Cross, to remind us that there were deep unfathomable sorrows of Mary,
the Mother of God, at the foot of the triumphant Cross.
Just as with any war, there are so many brave lives
sacrificed, even the war ended with victory.
Ever since Satan in snake in Genesis 3 brought death
in human life through the Original Sin of Adam and Eve, we have been in
constant battle with Satan and his collaborators. Satan’s mission is to corrupt
us morally and spiritually into demise, by cutting us off from God.
The victory of the Holy Cross and the sorrows of
Mary give us one great momentum to inspire us to continue our fight against
Satan – until Christ returns to ultimately conquer Satan, as prophetically
envisioned in Revelation 20.
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