Reflections on Holy Cross Day – Sunday, September 14, 2025
My Dear Brothers & Sisters,
Today we observe Holy Cross Day! The Calendar of the Church Year allows some feasts which are observed on fixed days to take precedence over a Sunday, and the Feast of the Holy Cross, which falls on September 14 each year, is one of them. In both the Liturgical Diary and Calendar, the feast has been transferred to Monday the 15th, but we have chosen to observe it today so that a larger number of our members might become aware of its significance. The Collect pleads, “Mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him.” To this we all say a loud Amen.
The road ahead of us for the last part of this year may be challenging and difficult and for some overwhelming. Let us not fix our eyes on these difficulties, for we will certainly become greatly discouraged. Rather fix our eyes instead on the Cross, where Jesus has already won the victory over evil in all its forms, over sin and death and the grave, and has opened for us the Kingdom of heaven. This focus will assure us that we will not be defeated, indeed we cannot be defeated, and that the way of the cross is leading us home.
Let us take this opportunity to share with each other as the opportunity permits certain priorities that we need to embrace so that we might not be overwhelmed. At the top of the list is the Priority of the Kingdom. Our hope, the hope of the church, and the hope of the world resides in the Reign of God. Jesus spoke more about the Kingdom than about anything else, and we will be wise to appreciate the importance of his urging of his followers to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Other priorities that we can share in the next few weeks are, the Priority of Prayer, the Priority of the Word, the Priority of Mission and Stewardship, and the Priority of Sacrificial Service. We really need to engage one another in conversation, and to determine where as disciples of Jesus, we stand on these important issues.
Contributed