The Ascetic Life Is Not Deprived of Solace - Homily for the Sunday of the Cross (2025)

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN

INTRODUCTION

A dove and a rainbow followed the flood, the Promised Land followed forty years of wandering in the desert, resurrection followed the widow of Zarephath’s trust in the Prophet, the stanching of blood followed twelve years of ritual impurity, and walking followed a lifetime of paralysis alongside the pool of Siloam. Today, an instrument of torture gives life as all the references to the Cross of Christ are paralleled with His rising from the dead.

NARRATIVE

Two themes are woven throughout the Divine Services for this Third Sunday of Lent dedicated to the Veneration of the Holy Cross. The first is that the Cross of Christ is emphasized only alongside His Resurrection. The second is the significance of the actual image of the cross, which reinforces what icons actually do – they reflect on their surface the ever-present reality of that which is depicted. That is why the image of the Cross is a dispenser of the grace of Christ which protects the faithful and wounds the demons.

In the Stichera of Tone 5, we hear of the victory and joy found in the Cross:

1. through the Cross, the curse is utterly destroyed, the power of death is swallowed up, and we are raised from earth to heaven (stichera 3, Tone 5);
2. “through the Cross,… Thou hast shattered the hosts of devils and saved mankind (Canticle 5, verse 3);
3. “Thou hast made the instrument of death into a source of life” (Canticle 7, verse 3);
4. through [the Cross] we have been delivered from the snares of death and have passed to unending joy (stichera 1, Tone 5);
5. [the Cross] brings us the enjoyment of eternal glory (stichera 2, Tone 5);
6. and, illustrating some of the finest poetry of the Church, we hear: “Taking the quill of the Cross, out of love for man in the red ink of royalty with bloody fingers Thou [O Christ our God] has signed our absolution” (stichera 1, Tone 3).

Throughout these Divine Services, the cruelty of crucifixion is paired with the festival, and the new song of the Resurrection as conveyed in the irmosi of the Canon as well as in the troparia where we sing, “We venerate Thy Cross, O Christ and we glorify Thy holy Resurrection.”

Resurrection does not come without the Cross, but more to the point, the Cross (and our individual cross) does not come without the hope of Resurrection. Therefore, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12.32)

Along with the historical event of Christ’s crucifixion on the Cross and its effects throughout time and space, the hymnographers also depict that eternal moment as being realized in the present image of the Cross. Those who have had the eyes of their soul opened will see this, while others, through faith, believe this and are transformed by it. These are not childish dreams, nor are they poetic devices that seek a desired effect. Instead, they are declaration of existent realities that are not always obvious to us. As we heard last evening:

1. Now [the Cross] is placed before us and shines with the brightness of Christ’s resurrection (Canticle 1, verse 2).
2. Therefore, “Let us venerate it with great rejoicing in our souls” (Canticle 1, verse 3).
3. Because, in so doing, “we put to flight the invisible Amalek” (Canticle 3, verse 3);
4. by touching it we share in immortality” (Canticle 5, verse 4)
5. we gain salvation, “and to all who show it veneration it is a fount of ever-flowing grace” (Canticle 4, verse 3)

The image of the Cross is not a symbol but a participant in the ever-present reality that unites all of time with the fruit of Christ’s victory over the power of the Devil, which, in turn, imparts a measure of grace to the faithful who venerate it.

Confirmatio

As we move through Lent, our abstinence increases as do our prayers, privately and communally. On Forgiveness Sunday, Fr. Gabriel, acknowledging the asceticism that takes place over Lent, helped to direct our attention to the center of this struggle, that being repentance - a broken and contrite heart.  Recognizing this, in the services, we find attention to this labour for us and our hope for glimpses of grace, and we hear, “Show us the glory of Thy beauty and grant to us thy servants the reward of our abstinence.” (Tone 5, stichera 1), because our efforts are not without reward, and our toil is not without consolation.

The Apostle Paul says, ‘As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.’ But only if we look to find our consolation in Him and in His friends, the Saints - nowhere else; in sickness and suffering, hardships and tribulations, where else is there to go? To whom else are we going to go?

Amidst sufferings and trials, we find ourselves too tired to walk in the sunlight of the day, to enjoy the outdoors. Impaired health does not desire tasty foods and drinks. Even friendships are taxed because we cannot be and speak as we would like due to our condition. Yet, what is this consolation that the Apostle speaks of? It is a consolation that realizes the potential spiritual transformation that can come through hardships, and during this Lenten period, through hardships of our own choosing. It is a transformation that affects how we think, how we interact, what we take enjoyment in, and perhaps most especially how we pray and what we expect from our prayers. How often are we too tired, or too sated with food or drink, or feeling too sick, to pray as we would like? Perhaps, we think, that if we are more rested, and not tired, have the right amount of food and drink, and are not overwhelmed with the days and weeks’ events, that we will pray better that our mind won’t wander and that we will be attentive. If only we weren’t tired, didn’t have so much on our mind, were not so busy. How many times have we stood at our icon corner, or in the Divine Services, with our head all a buzz, inattentive to the words of the prayers, and allowing the whole world into our soul, and before we know it, the prayers are finished and we haven’t even prayed. And yet, we still need to pray, we still have to pray despite these circumstances (although the circumstances that are under our control we should control). But amidst the busyness and the whirling thoughts, and the sickness, prayer is possible, and so is consolation. With the Cross is the Resurrection.

“The Cross is the door to mysteries,” writes St. Isaac the Syrian. “Through this door the mind makes entrance into the knowledge of heavenly mysteries. The knowledge of the Cross is concealed in the sufferings of the Cross. And the more our participation in its sufferings, the greater the perception we gain through the Cross.”[1]

The more we participate in the sufferings of the Cross, whether they manifest themselves as small irritations, as weariness, or being mentally scattered, or whether they are big with uncertainty about one’s economic or social situation, the illness or the death of a loved one or with facing one’s own illness or death, it is through these events, that we learn to know as we should and therein learn to be as we should, in regards to the life that remains a mystery, a mystery, especially to those who seek to avoid the Cross by engaging in the many amusements of this world that seeks to distract us from our goal.

"See what good things are born in a man from struggle!" writes St. Isaac:

It often happens that when a man bends his knees in prayer and stretches forth his hands to the heavens, fixing his eyes upon the Cross of Christ and concentrating all his thoughts on God during his prayer, beseeching God all the while with tears and compunction, suddenly and without warning a fountain springs up in his heart gushing forth sweetness: his members grow feeble, his eyesight is veiled, he bows his head to the earth, and his thoughts are altered so that because of the joy that surges throughout his entire body he cannot make prostrations… Indeed, can these things be known from [writings of ] ink? Or can the taste of honey pass over the palate by reading books? For if you do not strive, you will not find, and if you do not knock at the door with vehemence and keep constant vigil before it, you will not be heard.[2]