By: Sister Laetitia Therese, OCD
This month we celebrate a unique feast day, the Exaltation of the Cross, on September 14. Why do we celebrate the means through which our Savior was crucified? We know that suffering is not good. It entered the world as a consequence of sin, when man chose to turn aside from the path God had intended for him. However, God would not permit suffering to have the last word. Through the cross we see the transforming power of suffering changed into love. God does not simply remove suffering, He makes it the powerful means that when united to His Son can change the world. This is what we celebrate in exalting the cross. God would not let anything separate us from His love. He upturned the greatest of evils, man putting to death his very God, and made it the means through which our salvation and reconciliation to Him is made possible.
Let us turn to God in trust, offering Him all the sufferings of our own lives, that He might transform them in love. Together, with our Carmelite Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (St. Edith Stein), we say,
“Much has been done, but there is endlessly more yet to be done! “In hoc signo vinces (‘In this sign you will conquer’)… Could this not be our slogan? We will not overcome this mountain of difficulties by our own power, but we will do it well through that sign! We will be victorious in the sign of the cross; that is, we will live our lives fully…- successfully or unsuccessfully- as a blessing on our society, our nation, and our Church.”