MONDAY, September 14 Holy Cross Day

Today is Holy Cross Day. Some reflect on the Christus Rex with Christ the King depicted on a cross of glory. Some reflect on a crucifix with a Christ of agony who died for our sins. And some reflect on an empty cross with Christ no longer on the cross but risen from the dead. All are proper and thoughtful.

When I reflect on the cross, I think of the light that the shadow of the cross cuts through. After darkness covered the land, brought on by the cross, the light of the world returned. But because of that cross, and of what happened afterwards, the light of the world has never again been extinguished. Wars, famine, poverty, and injustice may temporarily seem to get the upper hand just as the darkness did on that Good Friday, but these will not prevail because the light of God is much stronger.

Because of Jesus' victory on the cross, I am now a child of light. And so when the world seems dark, I can survive, for I know the light of Christ will prevail.

Before the cross we wear, there is the crown that we must bear.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

PRAY for the Diocese of Southern Malawi (Central Africa)