Seeing The Cross As Personal
Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 14, 2025
I had an entirely different sermon prepared, but due to the tragic events this week, I prepared another.
This is the Sunday of the Elevation of the Cross the ultimate example of selfless love and unconditional forgiveness. The Cross needs to become personal for us so that the same unconditional love and forgiveness might flow through us into the world.
Here is a story for you. A rabbi once asked his students, "How can we tell when the night has ended and the day has begun? How can we tell when the light has returned?" One student offered, "When you can tell a dog from a sheep." Another said, "When you can distinguish a fig tree from a grapevine." "No," the rabbi replied, 'When you can look into the face of any man and recognize your brother, and into the face of any woman and recognize your sister. Until then, it is still dark.'"
It is a myth that there is a division my neighbor and me. The truth is that humanity is one and the pain we all bear is shared in common. The verse, "Weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice," points to this. We are weeping and rejoicing with the world whether we know it or not simply because all humanity is inextricably united.
How tragic this is for those who do not celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion. How can humanity survive without them? The Cross breaks down all barriers and levels all playing fields. It is we who build walls and carry grudges not realizing that we are imprisoning ourselves and harming ourselves by clinging to the hot coals of anger. Unconditional love and unconditional forgiveness is the solution to our ills.
There is a river of tears flowing right under the masks we wear. Choosing to ignore this, we will never find peace. We have all been hurt and the way to healing demands that we feel it, heal it, and let go of it. Otherwise we will project our pain onto others. That river runs through the lives of everyone. We share the same sorrow, grief, fears, and sins. If we come to see the truth of our shared suffering, then we will begin to understand the meaning of the Cross and nurture empathy as our new way of life.
Taking the full weight of our shared suffering, Jesus died for us all. "By his stripes we are healed," Isaiah proclaims. The suffering is shared as is the healing. It is our vocation to alleviate this suffering whenever possible and if we cannot do that, we must dedicate ourselves at least to doing no harm and adding to it.
The Cross must become personal to us and the best way to do that is to see ourselves on it. There is a Protestant hymn about the Cross we would sing during Holy Week. The first verse goes, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" There is a lament after each verse that goes, "Ah! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble." That song made the Cross intensely personal for me as a child. I still love to sing it.
A very dear spiritual son told me a story about his youngest daughter. On their last trip to Greece her parents bought her a cross. In the place where the beams cross there is a tiny mirror. When she noticed it, she exclaimed something like this, "Look, Dad, I can see myself in the Cross."
There is a theory that reality is not fixed. It flows. It isn't solid like rock, but maleable like clay. It shifts with our thoughts, energy, and attention. I like that tlheory. "Our thoughts determine our lives." So, it matters very much what we think, say, and do. We mold reality every moment with every decision we make, every word we say or post, and every thought we think. We either mold a world of forgiveness and compassion or unforgiveness and hatred. If we could only remember that holding grudges only hurts the one who wil not let them go. Unforgiveness eats away at our hearts. If we live by the sword we shall most certainly die by it.
These 3 actions (thoughts, energy, and attention) are seeds that grow and bear fruit. Plant thorns and you will produce thorns. Plant flowers and flowers will come up. The choice is either to follow ego or follow the heart. Our Lord shows us how by following his heart all the way to the Cross, by sacrificing himself for the good of the righteous and the unrighteous.
A very dear spiritual son told me a story about his youngest daughter. On their last trip to Greece her parents bought her a cross. In the place where the beams cross there is a tiny mirror. When she noticed it, she exclaimed something like this, "Look, Dad, I can see myself in the Cross."
That moment the Cross became personal to her when she saw herself on it.
i want to end with a prayer I sent it to many people as a guide to facing the turmoil in our suffering world because peace, love, and understanding are paramount solutions to the horrible mire into which our society has gotten itself. It is attributed to St Francis. You probably know it. A copy has been provided for you so that we can say it.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.