Ad Jesum per Mariam

The Mystery of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross! There is Only One Key to Truly Knowing Jesus.

The Mystery of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross! There is Only One Key to Truly Knowing Jesus! We celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14th). It is important we take the word Exaltation seriously! Why? Because in today’s world, the cross appears seemingly everywhere. It appears on buildings, we begin our prayers by making the cross, we bless ourselves by means of it and we talk about carrying our crosses. Given all this, it’s amazing how impoverish our knowledge of this Mystery really is in today’s world. Many are guilty of repeating this over and over again without really thinking or meditating on the depth of this mystery. What does it really mean to communicate and pass on the faith? It starts with understanding the first word of today’s Feast Day . . . Exaltation. One exalts something that you value and appreciate. One exalts someone well, only to the extent that you know that one. This mystery is not about Jesus carrying the Cross today! It is not simply about Jesus dying on the Cross today! The issue is what is our relationship to this Mystery? How well do we see how deep and broad it is? There Is Only One Key to Truly Knowing Jesus Christ! There is only one key to truly knowing Jesus Christ! Only one! There are not many! St. Louis de Montfort would often say and write: To seek to know all things, and not know Jesus Christ, is to know nothing. To know Jesus . . . is to know enough! To seek to know Jesus, and not know this key, is not to know Jesus at all! The Cross is the key that unlocks everything! It is the secret to understanding the identity of Jesus. It is the secret to understanding scripture. It is the secret to knowing the greatest truth of our faith! Listen more within the Homily! On this Feast Day, the Church celebrates the mystery of the tree that undoes the tragedy of the earlier tree. Celebrate the Victory of Life that comes to us! Hear more within this first of two Conferences on this Feast Day. Listen to this Meditation Media. Listen to: The Mystery of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross! There is Only One Key to Truly Knowing Jesus. ------------------------------- Image: Pieta and The Cross A nighttime image of the Pieta, Holy Scripture and The Cross at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Island. ------------------------------- Conference #1 of 2: Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross The link to the second conference will be made available shortly.

Broadcast on:: 15 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Mary, Queen of all hearts. Saint Louis, Marie de Bonford. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. I can't stress enough the importance of paying attention to what it is that we celebrate today. We celebrate the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross. And it's very important that we take that word exaltation seriously, because the unfortunate truth is as common a symbol as the cross is for us. It's everywhere. We mark our buildings with it. We begin our prayer, signing ourselves under it. We bless ourselves by means of it. We speak of carrying the cross. We speak of Jesus on his cross. And yet it's amazing how impoverished our understanding of this mystery really is. And it's because we fall into the trap of just repeating things over and over again without really seeking to peer into the depth that lurks behind them. I'm going to take advantage of the fact that we have a large group from Port Jefferson today, infant Jesus Parish, of those who are engaged in catechetical work to frame the reflections around the idea of what does it mean to communicate and to pass on the faith. And it starts with getting right that first word in the name of the feast day today, exaltation. You exalt something that you value. You exalt something that you appreciate. And you only exalt someone or something well to the extent that you know that one. And so know what the church is saying. This is not about carrying the cross today. This is not simply about Jesus died on the cross today. That's involved. But the issue is what is our relationship to this mystery? And how well do we see how deep and broad it is? There's the simple fact of the matter is there is one and only one key to truly know Jesus Christ. There are not many. And I can't stress that enough. There's only this one. There is only this one. This is why St. Louis de Montfort would say to seek to know all things and not know Jesus is to know nothing. To know Jesus is to know enough. But to seek to know everything about Jesus and not know this is not to know Jesus at all. To speak about salvation history and not speak about this is to speak about a history that never happened. The cross is the key that unlocks everything. It is the secret to the identity of Jesus. It is the secret to understanding the Scriptures. It is the secret to knowing the greatest truths of our faith. This is why. This is why when we celebrate Mass, there's that marvelous moment at the altar. During the Eucharistic prayer. And you've all been to Mass before, so you know what I'm talking about. And we all know what happens with the bread and the wine and the miraculous transformation into the very presence of Christ. But there's that marvelous moment where the priest, after he says the words of institution over the chalice, places the chalice back on the altar and then genuflex. And what many don't realize is during the Mass, when the priest elevates the host or the chalice, that is not his moment of adoration. That is him showing you the presence of Christ. When he places the species back on the altar and when he genuflex, that is when the priest adores the mystery from his knee. And when the priest rises up out of that act of adoration of the mystery and the presence, he says these words. Mysterium Fide, the mystery of faith. And again, the language is important, not a mystery of faith. Not a really cool mystery of faith that we could think about alongside everything else, it is the mystery of faith. The and what do we say? We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your resurrection. Again, the language is not accidental. Listen to the different verbs. We proclaim this. This is what we proclaim. We proclaim this and we profess. No, that's different. A profession is not a proclamation. A profession is a declaration of belief. We proclaim this and in doing so, we profess your resurrection until you come again. And this is the fundamental movement of the church. The proclamation of this at the service of the profession of the resurrection and we continue to do that over and over again across the long centuries of the history of the world until the Lord comes and brings this mystery to completion. What a remarkable reality that is. Tucked away in our liturgy, tucked away in our experience of prayer are these hidden treasures and it does well to pay attention to them. In fact, building on that. Let's just linger with this idea of we proclaim your death and we profess your resurrection. And let's consider just how odd Jesus really is. The entire world in a sense saw him die. Tens of thousands of people were in Jerusalem on that first good Friday. Tens of thousands of people witnessed that terrible movement through the streets of the city, that horrifying murder on a tree on the hill. Now, as Father Felix pointed out at Mass, a crucifixion is an act of public witness. It is Rome testifying to its power. The one who is crucified is crucified outside of the city at a crossroads so that anybody who enters or leaves the city has to look. It's public. It is a message to the world. And so in executing a man on the cross, Rome is sending a message to the world. It is proclaiming something. It proclaims, "See, I am mighty and you are not. "I have power and you do not. "I can take your life and there is nothing "you can do against me." That is what Rome proclaims as it crucifies a man. And thousands upon thousands see with their own eyes, Jesus Christ suffer and die on a cross. No, that's public knowledge. It doesn't require faith to believe that Jesus died on the cross. That's a matter of common public record. That's historically verifiable data. We proclaim that this happened and we embrace, no, we proclaim it which means we embrace the reality of it. We proclaim that something happened on this cross and we don't look away from it. And now this is a curious thing because nobody wanted to look at the guy on the cross because the message Rome was sending was horrifying. The cross was something that you would turn your eyes away from. You don't proclaim it. You try to avoid it. If it happened to someone you loved, you don't advertise it. And so something is odd here. But then we say that other curious statement, we profess your resurrection because that requires faith. And look at how strange this is. Look at how strange this is. When Jesus rises from the dead, who sees it? Nobody, nobody. Even when the angel comes and rolls the stone away from the tomb in St. Matthew's gospel, the tomb's already empty. No one gets to see Jesus leave the tomb. No one witnesses it with their eye. Now how remarkable this is? And so the resurrection happens, but nobody sees it. And then even more curiously, the Lord who rises triumphant from the dead, overcoming the terror of Rome, overcoming the might of the grave. What does he do? He doesn't go back to Jerusalem and show himself. Imagine how effective that would have been. The Lord could have appeared in the clouds of heaven brighter than the sun over everybody and say, look, you got it wrong, but he doesn't do that. He doesn't publicly manifest it. How odd that is? If it was one of us, we certainly would have planned it that way. You know, oh yeah, they're all gonna think they want and I am so gonna show them. That's how we work. You know, that is how we work because pride likes to show itself, even when it's good. And yet Jesus doesn't do that. He shows himself to a handful of women and then his disciples. Know how strange this is? And the only way the world is gonna find out about his victory is if they bring the news. That is the only way. That is the only way the world learns the truth that Christ has risen when a small number of witnesses make it known. This is the most inefficient way of spreading a message of all time. And proof positive of the victory of the resurrection is that it worked. That we are here 2,000 laters because that odd way of doing something was actually effective. It's completely unlikely. It's completely strange. We, and after Pentecost, when the Holy Church begins his preaching and Peter steps out of the building, the day that 3,000 people were converted in one sermon, now that's a preacher. The very first proclamation of the church was essentially this. Peter looks at those who have gathered around, announces that all things have been completed and can only be understood in and through Jesus Christ. And he looks at those who gather, those who cried crucify him, crucify him. Those who plotted his death, those who shrugged their shoulders in indifference, he looked at all of them and he said this, know you this, this Jesus whom you crucified. God has raised up and made Messiah and Lord. The early proclamation of the church, the one that died is the one who has risen. There is no other victor over death than the one who was crucified. And that is how you know you got the right one. It is this Jesus who you crucified. God has raised him up and made him both Messiah and Lord. And in speaking that way, Saint Peter is doing something profound and important. He's not merely giving information because the faith is always more than information. There is always an informative content that we have to hand on. But if we fall into the trap of thinking, that's how we hand on the faith, we miss the point completely. Mere information has never saved anybody. A person saves us. When we hand on the faith, we want to bring people to meet and to know a person. So note what Peter says. That same Jesus that you rejected, this guy, this guy that you thought you could ignore, this guy you thought you could push away. This guy you thought wasn't the one for you. That's the guy God shows. Note the implication there. We don't get to pick our own savior. We don't get to pick our own source of mercy because it's not about what we want. It's about what God does. So now note, Peter convicts them that they got it wrong and they got it wrong because God is doing something else. Note the challenge then. You can continue to ignore him. But you're ignoring God. You can continue to set this aside, but the one you are brushing off is God. Or you can say then I need to move, then I need to change. Note how powerful that is. Note how direct. Note how powerful and how direct that is. This Jesus whom you crucified, hearing all of that, you would think everybody would have got baptized that day. And the remarkable thing is it's not everybody, but it is a lot. That's the next reminder. Handing on the faith is an uneven operation. There are always going to be those who don't receive it for whatever reason. The important thing is that the one and trust it with handing it on is actually conscious of handing it on. So now coming to the cross and I have a physical cross in my hand. One of the things that happens in certain traditions of the church, including my own, is that when a missionary is sent out to preach, he's given a cross. But the action by which that happens is important because the way the cross is handed is not this way. It's this way. The one who is going to preach first has to receive the cross. He doesn't get it as a tool that he uses immediately. The cross is presented in such a way that he has to meet it. And when he stretches out his hand, he's taking it not first to show everybody else, he has to take it first to himself. Because you can't give what you don't have. And so again, now we come to this idea, the exaltation of the cross. It talks about the way I value this mystery, about the way I respect it and about the way I relate to it, about how I receive it and then receiving it, what I do with it. Because the simple fact of the matter is, any missionary or catechist worth the name has to first receive the mystery and value the mystery. And it's out of receiving it and valuing it that then he or she can proclaim it. We proclaim your death because it's something we know. We profess your resurrection because that's what your death leads to. Know how powerful that is. And so just so that we're clear when we understand, Jesus Christ himself insists on this repeatedly in sacred scripture. If anyone would be my disciple, he says, Saint Mark's Gospel chapter eight. If anyone would be my disciple, do you want to be my disciple? Jesus gives us the rules, let him deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me. No cross, no disciple. Because Jesus only walks one way. Jesus doesn't have 12 different pathways and we get to pick our favorite. He only walks one way. And if we will walk with him, it is always the way that includes and is shaped by the cross because the cross is the shape of salvation history. The cross is the reason everything we read in sacred scripture happens. Everything without a single exception. And so this is now what the church is going to really talk about when it speaks of exalting the cross. It's going to speak about how it is the cross that orders, lifts and completes everything because it's before all of the other things. The reason David was anointed king is the cross. The reason Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments is the cross. The reason Abraham is called out of war of the Caldis is the cross. The reason Isaiah the prophet spoke in the name of God is the cross. The reason John the Baptist appeared on the banks of the river Jordan announcing that the day is near is the cross. Without this, none of that ever happens. That could be hard to wrap our heads around because we're used to thinking in terms of time. What comes first produces what comes next. That's not how God works. God doesn't defer to what happens in time because God stands outside of time. God operates differently. For God, what comes last is always the first thing. Think of it this way. When you really decide to do something, for example, you're making a career's choice. I would like to, you know, I was really little, I made the decision to become a physicist. I actually did that. And then it turned out somebody else had another plan. But when you make a choice like that, the choice, the goal determines what you do. That choice determined what school I enrolled in for college. That choice determined what classes I would take. I had to do all of those things in time before I could call myself a scientist. But it was the choice to become that that made all of those others happen. What we read in the Old Testament, what we read in sacred scripture, it's all there because everything's going here. Because God is going to save us in Jesus, his son. If this isn't going to happen, none of the rest of it will ever take place. This is what the church saw in looking at the mystery of the cross. It didn't just see the brutality and the horror of that moment, although it did. It saw the way that this mystery unlocked all the others. This mystery drew them all together, completed them, and made all of them more than they could be on their own. So as the church would then say, there's a marvelous hymn that was written in the 6th century, O Faithful Cross, and it speaks of this, that even as Adam falls beneath a tree, an ingrasping afterlife falls in a sense into the grave. The Lord looks and sees another tree that will heal the tree that killed Adam. Note how powerful that idea is. At the beginning, there was a tree, and man fell to death in a garden beneath a tree, because man stretched out his hand to the wrong tree. And so the decision is made, man will have a new tree that he can stretch out his hand to. It's this tree. It's this tree. And so for centuries, Christians would ask the question. If we believe that God became man, the question is why? And the answer is, not because he liked us so much he wanted to hang out with us. The answer is not, he needed a vacation. The answer is not because it was like getting a promotion, because God becoming man is not a step up for God. That's a dramatic step down. Why would he do that? And the answer is this. Jesus Christ comes to save us, and he will save us. He can't take me anywhere. Sorry about that. I get excited. Jesus Christ comes to save us, and he doesn't have many ways of saving us. He only has one way. So again, quick question to all of you who are well-formed catechically. Is God perfect? It's a pause. A little worries. Can God do anything that he wants to do? And when God does something, though, because he's perfect, will it be just any old thing or the very best of things? The most loving thing? The most effective thing? Good. Is Jesus God? All right, good. We're picking up the pace on the answers. So then, if Jesus is God, Jesus is perfect. Jesus can do anything he desires. And because he's perfect, if he does anything, it will always be the best thing? The most loving thing? The most effective thing. Good. Because there is a consequence in saying Jesus is God. When Jesus Christ decides to save the world, when God decides to save the world, it must be the most perfect way of saving us. It must be the very best way of saving us. It must be the most loving and the most effective way of saving us. Because if it's not, we're not talking about God. Right? The world has only saved one way, this way. This is the most perfect way, the most effective way, the most loving way, the very best way that self-activation could happen, or God would not have done it this way. And when we recognize that, all of a sudden, there's a greatness that settles over this mystery of the cross that we don't see otherwise. This is not simply a way, it is the way. Jesus doesn't die on the cross by accident. Jesus is not a victim of political calculation or circumstances that are out of his control. He comes to earth for this. What a powerful statement that is. On every step He takes, every word of the Sermon on the Mount, every healing, every miracle, every conversation with His disciples are all leading to this. Because it's from here that He will lift the world into mercy. And there is no other place and there is no other way. And so when the Lord says, pick up the cross and come with me, He's not simply saying, shoulder your burden and groan under it. He's saying, like the missionary superior says to Him, take this to yourself. Come with me with it. Value it and carry it. Because there are two ways of using that word carry the cross. And normally, we trap ourselves in one. When you hear those words, carry the cross. Don't you automatically have the assumption of the person who's bent down really low. The cross is big. It's heavy. Everything is hard and joyless. And I'm trying to endure. And that's part of it. But when you gather for church on Sunday, a cross is carried too, right? But it's held up like this. That's carrying the cross too. This is the task of catechesis. This is the task of preaching. It's not simply to groan under the weight of a burden. It's to hold a sign, sure and reliable that can be followed. It's to recognize, I am saved by this. And I value it. Know how different that sounds? That's the other way of carrying the cross. We have to know both ways. That's why we have this feast day, the exaltation of the cross. Because Christ exalts his cross at his side in heaven. It is the means he chose to save you. He doesn't cast it aside. He doesn't reject it. He bears the marks of his suffering and death in his hands even after the resurrection. He is always the one defined by this. And he is the one who redefines this. And so now let's just take a look at Good Friday and talk about how all of this comes together. Because there's some useful comparisons here then. We all know both the stories. We know the story of Good Friday. And we know the story of the garden, Adam and Eve and the snake. Remember the snake? All right. So what do we see? In the garden at the very beginning, everything is easy for man. He is in the garden of blessing. Everything good that he could desire is right there and all he has to do is reach out and take it. It has all been given to him. And there is one limit. God just says, just leave my tree alone. There's a lot of really bad theology and a lot of really bad reflecting. Why would God do that? Of course they're going to. It's like, that's just stupid. If I told you you could have all of my stuff except for one thing, you'd probably be pretty happy. You're not going to waste a lot of time worrying about the one thing you can't have when you can enjoy everything else. So this idea that somehow God put a limit and therefore man had to fall, that's nuts. That's nuts. That fails to appreciate everything that was given. It sells the everything short. Man had everything. Man had everything until the snake said, "Oh, dude, man, there's something you don't have." And again, let's just think about how it's brilliant. It is absolutely brilliant how the human heart gets seduced. So the snake is talking to Eve. There's something you don't have. Now imagine this. Imagine this. If I walked over to these three young ladies and I said, "Look, your life is perfect. Your love by everybody. You have everything you need, everything you want. You can rest in your accomplishments. Everything is going as well as you could imagine maybe even better. But I can give you something else. It's one thing you don't have. You're missing something that would rob you of all of your happiness and leave you broken and depressed." And I could give that to you. Would you take it? It's free. Would you take it? You're pausing. I don't even think about that. Yes to that is crazy. Satan didn't lie when he said you're missing something. He just didn't tell him what it was. He was right. There was something they didn't have. They didn't have unhappiness. They didn't have death. They didn't have pain. You know? There's Eve's eyes lighting up. Oh my God. There's something else I could get. And why? Because this is where man's heart begins to turn to another source of good that isn't God. And there's only one source of good. So the next time somebody offers you pain and suffering, remember the answer is no. But note, what happens is not just disobedience. The heart is looking for good from a source that doesn't have it. There's only one source of good. And so what do they do? They know the teaching. See, again, this is why it's never just about information. Adam and Eve know the teaching, leave the darn tree alone. They know the teaching. But the heart is being pulled elsewhere. The heart wants to think it can decide for itself now what is good. And another element of handing on the faith is handing on not just what is good, but a sense of who the giver of all good things is. Where the good is found, where the good comes from. And so seeking a good apart from God, everything comes crashing down. And it happens in a garden of blessing at the foot of a tree, the wrong tree that man stretched his hand out to. And what is the first thing that God does when Adam and Eve sin? He comes looking for them. You know? And it's not like, you know, it's only like that old TV show, cops, bad boys, bad boys, what you're going to do. You know, the sirens aren't going off, the dogs aren't barking, the Almighty's not coming with a baseball bat. Man has fallen, and the first thing God does is he seeks him. You know how profound that is? He seeks him, and what does man do? He hides in the trees of the garden, and he never comes out. That whole conversation between God and Adam and Eve and the snake, they never step out from behind the trees. They remain lost in those trees, hiding themselves. It's not like God doesn't know what tree you're hiding behind, but note that idea of man hides himself now. Man is hidden behind the trees, and God comes underneath the trees, looking for him. And the tragedy is that man will not let himself be found. Man prefers the mask of a false innocence to the reality of being forgiven, you know? The very first instance in recorded history of anybody saying, "Sorry, not sorry," is Adam speaking to God. God looks at him and says, "Only one thing could have happened. You did the one thing you weren't supposed to do, and what does Adam say? Right, I did. But it's not my fault. I did it, but it's not my sorry, not sorry." You know, this lives in our culture ever since. This lives in our world ever since. Because what does man do? He blames everybody but himself. The woman! Not quite. Not quite. The woman that you gave me. Dude, if you left my rib alone, I'd be okay. No, you put me to sleep, you took the rib, you built the woman, look where we are. It's remarkable, though, note in his arrogance now, man will blame everybody but himself for the wrong he himself has done, even as he acknowledges doing the wrong. And why? Because man thinks he can absolve himself. That's like Pontius Pilate washing his hands on the day that Jesus dies. As if that changes anything, as if that does any good. And so here is man thinking he can decide for himself how he's going to be. But the only thing he does by doing that is he holds on to his guilt. He holds on to his guilt, and that's all he has to pass on to his children. That's original sin, as original guilt. We're all born into the guilt that Adam and Eve refused to let go of because they refused to say they were sorry. Original sin has two poor parts. It's not just the taking of the fruit, it's the refusal to repent. Mercy was standing right there, they didn't come out from behind the trees. So look at what we have. And worlds fallen into darkness in need of mercy and man and woman incapable of finding. So Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden, a carabin with a flaming sword is placed at the entrance, they're not getting back in. They're not getting back in. Their life now only goes one place, human life only goes one place at the end of that story, and it's the grave. That is the outcome that man has got for himself. It's not at that point if we're really good we'll get to heaven, that's not there. That is not there. Man has no way of getting back. That's what it means to say that there was a fall. It's the fall you don't get up from, because no one climbs back out of the grave. This is the world man made for himself. And this is God's answer to that. That's what this is. That's what this is. So what do we see? At the very beginning of the passion, Jesus is where he's in a garden. Isn't that interesting? The passion begins in a garden. And the new Adam is in the garden and he's alone effectively. His friends have fallen asleep. He knows what's coming because this is not the garden of blessing. The guys with the torches and the lanterns and the clubs and the ropes and the spears, they're coming. And Jesus looks out into that dark night and sees all the tragedy of the world, including every single act of unfaithfulness that each of us has and will continue committing. He sees all of that. That's what he's walking into. And this one, unlike Adam and Eve who reached out for an easy source of cheap advancement, this one looking at the full difficulty of this, says yes, I will do your will. Don't mind. Note the contrast, an act of disobedience, an act of obedience. Adam reaches out his hand to the wrong tree and there in Gethsemane Jesus confirms he's reaching out his hand to this tree. And so what happens? He is arrested, he is beaten, mocked, and condemned. And so he walks through the streets of Jerusalem and outside the streets of Jerusalem, bearing on his back across, physically it's large and it's ponderous. But beyond that, he is bearing the weight of all of the guilt the world has accumulated across all the ages of its history. Including all the years you have to come. The burden of guilt that Adam and Eve carried out of the garden that has just kept growing, that's what he carries, the burden we can't. And he carries that through the streets of Jerusalem, why? Because he's doing what he's always done. At the very beginning when Adam sinned, what did God do? Adam hid in the trees and God came beneath the trees, looking for Adam and so what do we see on Good Friday? God beneath the tree of the cross, walking, looking for Adam. Looking for his fallen child, he has never stopped looking for Adam. On Good Friday now, physically God has a tree on his back, he is walking under the tree to find Adam. Finally, he gets to the top of Mount Calvary and on top of Mount Calvary, before they shove him onto that cross, they strip him naked. And what did we hear in Genesis? "I was naked and so I hid." And here the Lord is naked and does not hide. About how the tragedy of the beginning is healed and undone in this mystery of the cross. This remarkable moment where everything that happens on Good Friday in some mysterious way heals the tragedy of the fall of the garden. When God pronounced sentence on Adam, what did he say? You will earn your bread by the sweat of your brow, toil shall be your lot, you shall sow your seed, and the earth will give you thorns and thistles, and Jesus is walking on this earth, crowd with thorns. And then, stripping him naked, he is finally shoved down onto the cross. And what does he do? He stretches out his hands. The jailer nails his arms to the cross. The executioner does that. But on some levels, that's not the important thing because what the Lord is really doing is saying, "I unite myself to this mystery." And why? This is the mystery of my self-giving for you. Don't know how powerful that is. That's why the night before he does this, he says to his church, "What you must do in memory of me." And again, note those words. When you remember me, here are many things you could do. Pick your favorite. He doesn't say that. Jesus doesn't say, "I'd really appreciate it if you guys will consider doing this in memory of me." Notice he doesn't say that either. What he says at the last supper is a commandment. It's not a suggestion. It's not an option. It is an order. Do this. Notice he doesn't even say please. The Lord is many things. He's never polite. Do this. And note it's not do something else. It is do exactly this. That's why we have mass. That's why it's important to go to mass. Do this, because you can't do this at home in your room. You can't do this just praying spontaneously with your friends. You can't do this anywhere, but in the framework that I have given you. Again, that's what it means to receive the faith, is to receive that. Do this of Jesus and pass it on. Do this. And if the Lord is requiring it, there must be something important about it. And there is. It's the sacrament of his self-giving. This is my body given for you. This is my blood poured out for you. It is the sacrament of his cross. The Lord dies on the cross, and what happens after he dies? We hear the centurion pierces his side with a lance, right? And so what do we see? The Lord is asleep on a tree, and his side is opened up. Well, you remember, Adam, if you left my rib alone, asleep under the trees of the garden from his side, the Lord builds his bride. Sleep on the tree of the cross. His side is open, and blood and water come out, baptism, the Eucharist, the Church, the bride of Christ, flowing out of the side of the new Adam. Note how all of this comes together, and we're still not done. Now you're looking at me, Father, he's dead, what more is there? The best stuff happens after he dies. So when he dies, he's taken off the cross. He's placed in the tomb, the long Sabbath settles over the world. And just as in the beginning, God rested after all of his work. So now the Son of God rests after all of this labor. But unlike our sleeping, the sleeping of the Lord lifted off the cross is powerful. And while his body rests in the grave, the spirit of Christ is going somewhere. The spirit of Christ goes to the halls of the underworld, to the realm of the dead. And he doesn't go as a visitor, he goes as a conqueror. And he goes into that terrible place, and he walks through plundering death of its treasure, which is the spirits of all of those who have died. And he keeps walking until he comes to the oldest grave there. And stretching out his hand, he finds Adam and lifts him up. Under the tree of the cross, the Lord finds Adam where he has fallen into hiding and being lost. And he lifts him up out of that grave saying, see the nail mark on this hand that heals your hand, which reached out to the wrong tree. And I who give you life restore you to life. That is what we celebrate with this mystery. In fact, this cool picture over here, this icon, the formal name of it, it is the Anastasis, the resurrection. And I encourage you to take a couple minutes and look at it because there's a lot going on here. In St. Mark's gospel, Jesus at one point says this parable. When the strong man is well armed and secure in his house, he and all of his possessions are safe unless a stronger man come. And the stronger man will barge in and bind him and plunder his treasure. Jesus is the stronger man. Death is the strong man. Death was secure in his house. Sin and Satan and darkness are secure in their power and their possessions until the stronger man shows up. These are the doors of hell, and that's Jesus kicking them down. He's bound the strong man, death is powerless before Christ, and now Jesus is robbing him. And that's Adam and Eve being pulled up out of their graves with John the Baptist and the Kings and the prophets of the old law all watching and included in this victory. So when the church celebrates this mystery, it's celebrating the mystery of the tree that undoes the tragedy of the early tree, it's celebrating the victory of the life that comes to us when our inheritance was only death. And across the centuries, this is how the church has celebrated and proclaimed this incredible mystery of the saving cross of the Lord. name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. [BLANK_AUDIO]