The Midpoint of the Great Fast

People often confuse this Sunday with the Feast of 14Sep.  After all, both have as a kind of ‘focal point’ a beautifully decorated Cross placed on the tetrapod before the ambo.  Both consist of our singing, Before Your Cross we bow down in worship, O Master… as we make prostrations before the Cross.

But the Feast in September (one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Church) is exactly that—it is the day on which we commemorate St. Helena discovering the true Cross of Christ in the year 326.

Today is NOT “one of the Twelve” major Feasts.  Today, the Cross is given this place in the Church as a ‘medicine’, a salve to soothe us who have labored with the Fast.  It is present to provide strength.  It shows us by its presence, “Only a little while longer.  You’ve made it this far.  There’s only this much more to go before our Lord will begin His walk to ascend the Cross.  Take courage and endure just a little longer."

Today’s Gospel speaks to us, beginning with three instructions from our Lord on living our lives in this world.  He prefaces this instructions with a kind of “test phrase” - Whoever desires to come after Me.  The Greek word used is opiso.  It does not mean one who comes later, but rather one who desires to be a follower.  But now after this test phrase, Jesus continues with the instructions.

First—Let him deny himself.  The Greek is aparneomai, and it means to utterly disown.  Paraphrasing, to consider nothing of self.

Second — Take up your cross.  The Greek is airo, that is to lift.  One of the examples explaining the word puts it akin to saying, ‘weigh anchor’ so that you are ready to sail away.  In this sense, lifting one’s cross carries the meaning that, wherever the Lord is instructing me to go, my cross goes with me.  So in a certain sense, taking up our cross is NOT so much our lifting a heavy load, but rather assuring that the security that is ours through the Cross remains with us—at all times, and in all places.

Third—Follow Me.  The Greek here is akoloutheo, which means to accompany, like a disciple, to ‘be in the same way with’ the Lord.  The root of this Greek word is keleuthos, and it means to ‘be on the road.’

Today, we approach the Cross with the same love and reverence we give it on that Feast day in September.  But it returns to us much more that we give to it!

The Lord continues to teach us that those who seek to save their lives (translated as ‘to make safe’) will lose them (translated as ‘destroy’).  The only way to make your life ‘safe’ for eternity is to renounce the life you’ve been given in this world, and begin to live as one now living in and for the Kingdom of God.

Does standing before today’s Cross and staring into its beauty speak these words to you?  If yes, then the Fast has brought you great benefit.  If no, there’s still time before our Lord comes to ascend the Cross on Holy Thursday.

But the time indeed grows short.  If you’ve benefitted, don’t stop.  If you’ve not benefited yet from the Fast, begin now to seek the benefits that the Church has laid before us all in this season of the Fast.