Remembering the Cross

St Helena with the Holy Cross

(Image courtesy of Web Gallery of Art)

Today is the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross and with it my mind returns to Good Friday. I can vividly recall the sacred ministers lying prostrate before the stripped altar, the chanting of the Passion and orations, following the sacred ministers barefoot across the sanctuary floor to adore the cross, holding the cross up for the faithful to adore, bearing my candle in the procession of the Blessed Sacrament and the profound silence as we left the Church. And how could I forget the dark, ominous skies that afternoon. In a way the feasts of the Invention and Exaltation of the Cross are to Good Friday what Corpus Christi is to Holy Thursday.

.

Vexilla Regis prodeunt;

Fulget Crucis mysterium,

Qua vita mortem pertulit,

Et morte vitam protulit.