Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord

The work of God's love for man began in the Bethlehem cave and ended on Golgotha. And all of it is permeated with the deepest humility.

Christ, the Son of God, is born in a cave, "for there is no place for Him in the monastery." And the poorest child is born in the house, and the Creator of the worlds humbles himself to a position in a manger. Out of Herod's malice, He flees to Egypt, as if He could not defend Himself in His homeland, as if there were no secret place in all Palestine to hide the Divine Infant for a while.

He goes to John on the Jordan among tax collectors and sinners and is baptized, as one of those to whom the Baptist's call was addressed: "Repent!"

He walks on the earth, not having where to lay his head. He lives in poverty to Whom the kings of the earth would gladly give all their riches and give up their palaces, if they believed that He is the Messiah.

Finally, he is betrayed by one of His disciples and hears another of those closest to Him deny with an oath that he does not know Him.

He endures mockery and humiliation, hears the cry of the maddened crowd: "Crucify Him!" ascends to the cross and dies, abandoned not only by the crowd of thousands who recently shouted "Hosanna" to Him, but also by His disciples.

Let us repeat once again: "With the deepest humility Christ the Savior walked His earthly path, the path of love for man, and accomplished the work of our salvation."

He condescended to a man, bent over him, as a doctor bends over a sick person, as a mother bends over the bed of her beloved child.

And all this in order to show by His very deeds how He loves man, how He does not consider it a disgrace for Himself not only to put on the image of a servant, but also to endure disgrace and suffering and death from this servant.

We would not have noticed, we would not have understood the love of God, if the Lord had done the same for us, but in a sense of His Divine dignity, with a proud consciousness of His superiority; if only one line showed His contempt for His tormentors, or cold self-satisfaction!

But the Lord everywhere and everywhere showed only His humility and His boundless love for man, even for His betrayer, calling him a friend; even to his executioners, having prayed for them from the cross.

And don't you feel that only through humility and love can we please the Lord, showing Him that we have understood His lesson?

It seems that this feeling, humble love, is devoid of power, and yet it works miracles: it reconciles warring parties, makes hitherto unknown relatives relatives, teaches to forgive offenses and endure sorrows courageously.