👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾The Holy Cross: The (#Negere #Meskel)
(part 1)
Beloved in Christ, today we reflect upon the mystery of the Holy Cross, that wood sanctified by the Blood of God Himself, by which heaven was opened, hell was shaken, and death was crushed. The Cross is not mere wood, nor a carved shape, but the throne of love, the altar of sacrifice, and the sign of victory. It is rightly called Negere Meskel the proclamation of the Cross for through it the world heard the news of salvation.
The Cross as the Teaching of Salvation
The Cross is the school where Christ Himself taught mankind the lesson of love and suffering. Upon it, the foundation of hell was torn apart, the wall that divided man and God was destroyed, and death itself was trampled down. The prophets foresaw it, the apostles proclaimed it, the Church Fathers preserved it, and the teachers of today hand it down still. To remember the Cross is to taste joy of spirit, for every feast of the Cross fills the faithful with heavenly gladness.
David spoke of it: “You have given a sign to those who fear you, that they may flee from the arrow of the enemy” (Psalm 59:4). The Cross is that sign refuge from the enemy’s arrow.
Paul proclaimed it: “The Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). The wisdom of heaven is foolishness to the proud, yet salvation to the humble.
Saint Yohannes Afework named its glories: it is the hope of Christians, the resurrection of the dead, the guide of the blind, the prophecy of the prophets, the preaching of the apostles, the glory of the martyrs, the perseverance of nuns, the purity of virgins, the foundation of the Church, and the peace of the world.
Saint Justin Martyr, reflecting on the mystery of the Cross, said: “Think for a moment, O man, and ask yourself whether all the work of the world could be done without the cross. Without this symbol of victory, it is impossible to cross the sea. Without it, the sculptors and the wise men do not make any sculptures. For the form of man is itself a cross; and birds, like crosses, fly in the air.” (First Apology, Ch. 55).
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem exhorts us: “We should not be ashamed to confess the Crucified Christ. We should boldly honor the Cross by sealing it on our foreheads, on our hands, and upon all that we wear. We should mark it on the bread we eat and the cup we drink, when we go out and when we return, when we lie down and when we rise, when we journey and when we rest.” (Catechesis XIII, 36).
Continues 👇🏾