In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, and thus we sign ourselves
with the Holy Cross of Christ, that instrument
which we call the invincible trophy, the weapon
of peace. We sign ourselves with it continually,
over and over again, because in the cross, whether
it be the shape we make with our hand over our
body, over someone else, that blessing occurs.
The cleansing of the heart comes. Or whether
we kiss the Holy Cross, which healed that woman
who was dying there in Jerusalem in the year
326, when Helen, the Queen Mother, found the
cross and determined that this piece of wood
here which healed this woman. This has the power
of the resurrection in it. This has the power
of God's cleansing in it. Let's not be afraid.
We have the cross of Christ. Jesus said before
he gave up his spirit, it is finished. It's completed.
Everything's consummated. The creation is made
new. St. John puts it this way. Jesus, knowing
that all things were accomplished, gave up the
spirit. And yet we want more from God. Yet we
want more signs and wonders. We want more information.
But we have this symbol of strength, the weapon
of peace. There are many symbols out there in
our culture today vying for prominence, vine
for preeminence. And they're basic because it's
the world. The basic presupposition is that it
is about power. To do this, to do that, to do
something else. The cross is our weapon of peace.
This feast day, yes, it's a day of joy. But then
I read and I hear one of the hymns from last
night and I read it again and I'm led to sorrow.
I'm not led to jump. And it says here, the trees
of the forest are clapping their leaves together
in joy because the wood of the cross is exalted.
The wood, that which God has made, just a tree
becomes something transcendent and transformative
and powerful. But then I read this. Through the
cross, O Lord, today thou hast raised us up again.
We're plunged continually in the gloom of our
forefather. That is the life of sin, which we
know before baptism is so powerful. It has such
a grip on us that we cannot release it, not one
bit. Salvation isn't about us doing good things.
It is about the cross and the resurrection and
our uniting to Christ. who gives us that power,
the weapon of peace. And then this hymn says,
Unrestrained greed thrusts down our nature into
error. We look around us. Isn't this our basic
attitude towards one another? So frequently.
Certainly the world itself, which the cross reveals
it to be, opposed to God and under judgment and
under condemnation. Everything we see going on
in our society is just a sign of our own sin,
our collective sin before God. Greed thrusts
down our nature into error. Someone said the
other day, I heard this. If this church, this
parish, disappeared from Santa Rosa, would it
make any difference at all to the community of
Santa Rosa? I don't mean to you, and to me, obviously.
Although maybe some members would find something
else to do on a Sunday morning. And they'd discover
as one of the... great surveyists in this country,
the Barnard Group, has discovered that probably
a third of people aren't coming back to church
once this COVID ends because they find that life
on a Sunday is okay without the church. They
can read their Bible if they want. They can pray
the way they want. They can go to the great church
of the outdoors, the ocean. But would this town
miss in any way the presence of St. Seraphim
Church, the protection of the Holy Virgin Parish?
When I asked myself that question, I asked myself
then, well, have I even begun to repent? Because
when we see in ourself greed, when we see in
ourself the questioning of God, when we see in
our self -agitation in the heart, not peace,
not faith, and not love. Yes, it's easy to point
a finger to someone else out there. Because there's
plenty of violence and hatred to go around. But
we have to start with repentance. Repentance
is not telling someone else they need to change.
Repentance is telling ourselves we're not oriented,
facing east, going towards Christ, going towards
paradise. We've forgotten that our true life
is the kingdom of heaven and that the symbol
of that kingdom is the cross. A symbol of love.
God's love. A symbol of sacrifice. Christ's sacrifice.
A symbol of mercy. And that it leads to resurrection.
Let's embrace the cross. Let's raise it high
in our own hearts. A day in 326 in which... Archbishop
Macarius lifted up the cross on high so everyone
could see it and they all sang Kyrie eleison,
Lord of Mercy. That's wonderful. But if it doesn't
translate to the cross being lifted up high in
our own midst, love, sacrifice, mercy, then how
is it an invincible trophy, a weapon of peace?
becomes a symbol that at some point some communist
or Marxist is going to pull off the roof, just
like they did in Russia. Let it be in your heart,
reigning this weapon of peace. A weapon causes
something to happen. It's an offensive tool or
a defensive tool. The power of that weapon is
love. The power of that weapon is self -sacrifice.
The power of that weapon is worship and gratitude
to God. Lift up that weapon in your heart, brothers
and sisters. Let it reign. And agitation, anxiety,
fear will be replaced by the love of God who
grants that great gift to us. Amen.