Exaltation

"Let us ever glory in the cross of Christ,
our salvation and our hope.
Let us bow in homage to the Lord of Life,
who was broken to make us whole.
There is no greater love, as blessed as this:
to lay down one's life for a friend.
Let us ever glory in the cross of Christ
and the triumph of God's great love."
~Dan Schutte


















Our parish has a nice tradition on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Our All-School Mass is held on this day and each class sends one student representative to the altar with the classroom crucifix for a blessing. Yesterday at daily Mass, Fr. Dave made sure to let all of the daily Mass attendees know that they were welcome to bring a crucifix from home to have it blessed as well.

So there I was, feeling a bit insecure and uncomfortable after communion as I was the only school parent standing at the altar with all of the students and two elderly women. I held our family heirloom crucifix that had belonged to my parents, as well as a crucifix that belonged to an elderly parishioner who was too frail to walk to the altar. Fr. Dave pronounced the blessing and sprinkled the holy water and I decided that my insecurity was silly and I should never be ashamed to "lift high the cross" especially within the church!

When I picked up my children from school at the end of the day, my son Jack told me that while I was standing at the altar, his friend (the same one who slept over at our house and whom I took to confession and wrote about in this post) nudged him and said, "Jack, there's your mom. She's cool!" Cool! How about that? A thirteen-year-old thinks I'm cool because I took him to confession and stood in front of the church to have my family crucifix blessed.

So, I will ever glory in the cross of Christ and the triumph of His great love!