The Exaltation of the Cross

Exaltation of the Cross

14 September

The cross of Christ is the salvation of the world and the triumphal sign of heaven’s victory.

The victory of the cross means, nations ransomed, cities saved, provinces liberated, the entire world made safe. Nothing is destroyed but the power of the devil, no one taken captive but the demons, for the cross of Christ redeemed the world and took the demons prisoner. Today the demons hang on the cross of Christ which has become their torment and torture; they are held captive by faith in the cross, by the sign of the passion.

Christ suffered evil and repaid it with good; he suffered death and gave life. Death came through Adam, life through Christ, who deigned to be crucified and to die precisely in order to destroy, through the tree of the cross, the sin that had been caused by a tree, and by the mystery of his death to put an end to the punishment of death.

From: A sermon by St. Chromatius of Aquileia

Monastic Lectionary for the Divine Office