The power of the Cross

This fourth week of Great Lent is imbued with the ideas, images and symbolism of the Cross. This past Sunday we saw the Cross placed in prominence in our Church and we bowed down to this same Cross as we will throughout this week. On one hand the Church gives us this Cross to strengthen us for the remainder of our Lenten journey, but there is more. The Church also uses the Cross to show us the possibility and power of transformation.

During the time of Jesus, the Cross was a hated thing. It was an instrument of torture and of death. It was something that was greatly feared. But with Christ's Death and Resurrection, the Cross has been transformed into something wholly and completely different. What was once despair and now turned into hope. What was once sorrow has been transformed into joy. What was once suffering has become happiness. What was once hatred has now turned into joy. What was once death has now become life.

In this same vain, we too can be transformed. Our Lenten journey gives us the opportunity to change our lives. It gives us the power to make ourselves different, better than we were, closer to God. For us, living a Christian life transforms us and remakes us once again in the image and likeness of God. Where once we had hatred, we have forgiveness. Where once we had anger, we now have joy. Where once we had judgment, we now have humility. Where once we had passions, we now have peace. Where once we had sins, we now have virtues. This is the powerful message of the Cross.

As we move into the second half of the Lenten season, let us take this Cross with us, holding it high and allowing the transforming power of it, and of our Lenten journey to transform us, to change us, to save us.