Taking up our Cross

Priest Seraphim Storheim : Homily
Taking up our Cross
Veneration of the Holy Cross
3rd Sunday in Great Lent
22 March, 1987
Hebrews 4:14-5:6 ; Mark 8:34-9:1


In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Today we are singing : “Before Your Cross we bow down in worship, and Your holy Resurrection we glorify”. The Cross comes to us in the middle of Great Lent, not so much to remind us that Good Friday is coming, but to give us fresh courage in our attempt to be refreshed in our walking towards Christ. The Cross comes to us in the middle of Lent, and we bow down before that sign, as we glorify the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We bow down before the Cross, and bowing down before it, we offer the Lord our worship. We do not bow down before a piece of silver or wood, and kiss a mere piece of silver or wood. We are venerating the true Cross whenever we kiss these signs of the Cross. Even if we were to be able to kiss a piece of one of the few remaining pieces of the true Cross, we would still be glorifying Him who was crucified on it, Jesus Christ. We know that whenever we venerate one of our icons or make the sign of the Cross, our veneration goes straight to Christ. All these items are windows to Heaven, and these windows take us always to Christ. They take us directly to Christ Himself, or they take us to Christ through the life, example, and prayers of those who have been holy, noticeably holy, in their living and who have shown us the Lord. All this is clearly set out in the writings of Saint John of Damascus.

The Cross comes to us and reveals to us that Jesus Christ was crucified and died, and that He also was victorious over death and rose from the grave. That is why the Cross comes to us in the middle of Great Lent. It comes to us also to remind us about how we are supposed to be living. As the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is saying, we have a High Priest who was tempted in everything as we were, and are. Although He is the Son of God, He emptied Himself and became a Human Being in order to save us (see Philippians 2:7). He was tempted in everything, and He allowed Himself to be put on the Cross to suffer and to die for us. Not only did He die for us, but that Crucifixion brought life. That sign, which was the most horrible sign of defeat in the days of the Roman Empire, became the sign of victory, life and light. As this great High Priest lived, so we are called to live. As this great High Priest was victorious over sin and death, and gave life to the world, so we are called in Him to be victorious and bring life to the world. We bring life to the world by living love. We bring life to the world by encouraging and strengthening each other in living in Christ and following Him no matter how difficult, no matter how painful that is. How do we do that ? We take up our Cross every day and follow Jesus, said the Gospel today. The Lord Himself holds us in our path. Our path is to take up our Cross and follow Him.

I have been serving the Lord now for more than fifteen years in parish work, and every year at least one person (if not half a dozen people) says to me : “Why don’t you leave time for yourself, and why don’t you take better care of yourself ? Why do you run yourself ragged ?” It is a good question to ask again today. I cannot say that I have been anything like the best priest in the past fifteen years, and I cannot say that I am the best example by any means, because I know how much I am a sinner and how great my weaknesses are and how much they paralyse what God would do through me if I did not paralyse myself. I do not know about you, but the example that I had when I was growing up was the example of parents who loved me very much and who gave up all sorts of things for the sake of selfish me. They gave up all sorts of things. You have no idea, and neither do I of how much they gave up for the sake of me, my brother and sisters. I know that you not only experience the same thing, but I see that you do the same thing yourselves for your children. All the time you are giving up all sorts of things that you could be and do for the sake of your children, and for the sake of those you love. It is a way of life, especially for Christians.

However, in the world, it is not unnatural that people should do this because that is how real love operates. In the world there are some shadows of that real love, not only selfish love. Especially amongst Christians, this way of life : giving and giving up opportunities and all sorts of advantages for the sake of children, is the way we are and how we live. We are trying to live out our love the best way we can. It is because I had that sort of example that I can do as I do, even if it is reckless, and even if I stretch myself. I can’t do anything else. I can’t operate as a parish priest in any other way. I have tried over the years that I have served in parishes, to limit what I should do and conserve energy. Probably I could have done a better job of rationing the things that I have done and the amount that I have been available to you. However, no matter how much I try to do it, it does not work. I am a perpetual “yes-man”. If you phone me up and ask me to do something, or if you need me for anything, I am going to say “Yes”. Unless it is absolutely impossible, I am going to say “Yes”.

I am going to say “Yes”, because I am anxious that the life of this parish should grow, and that the love between brothers and sisters should grow. That is why I do that. That is why I answer the phone in the middle of the night. That is why whenever I am home, I always answer the phone even if it is three in the morning. That is the only way that I can exercise the gifts that God has given to me to exercise – to be available. Even though it is not logical and even though I know that I should not do many of the things that I do, I cannot stop. That is essentially what taking up the Cross entails. It is trying, as much as we can, to put other people first, to help build up the love of Jesus in other people so that they can have the hope of being saved.

The reason that Christ stretched out His arms on the Cross was not only so that He could die. Rather, He stretched out His arms in order to accept everyone, to accept the whole world in His love. He reached out on the Cross to embrace the whole world : all its sin, all its death, and all its selfishness. He did this in order to give us life. The same attitude ought to be our attitude in life. We stretch out our arms, and we give love. We give ourselves. In giving this love, we give Christ to one another, to our children, to our neighbours, and to people whom God sends. In reaching out in this love, we give them the life that Christ wants to give them.

Therefore, let us remember who we are : Orthodox Christians. Knowing that we glorify Jesus Christ, let us remember to make our prostrations before the Cross with joy. By bowing down in this way, we show that we are ready for the Lord to be the Lord of our lives, for Him to enter us and to live in us, and to give life to our sacrifices, to our offering of ourselves for His sake and for the sake of all those around. Therefore, with our whole lives let us glorify the all-holy Trinity : Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages.