Collect taken from the feast of Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
Collect: O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son should undergo the Cross to save the human race, grant, we pray, that we, who have known his mystery on earth, may merit the grace of his redemption in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son…
“O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son should undergo the Cross to save the human race,”
– We acknowledge the mysterious means of our salvation, the Cross, and recognize that it was an act of obedience and love that led Jesus to the Cross.
“grant, we pray, that we, who have known his mystery on earth, may merit the grace of his redemption in heaven.“
– By “know” we mean more than just having an idea. This is the knowledge of experience. All human beings suffer and experience their own crosses. Thus, we pray that this suffering may be united to the Cross of Christ so that our “knowledge” may be transformed into an authentic knowledge of the means of our salvation.
Questions & Advice: Do you truly love the Cross of Jesus Christ? Do you see it as an act of Divine anger from God the Father or as an act of Divine love from God the Son?
Read about redemption on the Cross in the Catechism (606-618). Spend some of your daily prayer time trying to simply take a deeper look at Christ on the Cross. Think about the greatest trials and pains in your life, then ask for the grace to not only endure them, but to offer them freely to God in love.
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| Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi, quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum. |