Priest Visarion Alexa
The Cross has a great power. It sanctifies, guards the man who makes its sign, the bed which we mark with its sign in the evening before going to sleep, the bread, the food we make the sign of the cross over it, the house we bless with the sign of the cross.
The Cross gives power to the man, it revives him. When the man who is in a trouble has faith, he puts all his faith and hope in God and makes the sign of the Holy Cross and his soul will get power and his body will be revived.
When you face a great temptation and feel that you are sinking the sign of the cross becomes an anchor.
Unfortunately in our times the sign of the Holy Cross is many times taken in derision. The Cross is not an accessory, a simple jewel worn at the foot or in the ear.
The Cross represents an attitude of living, it is not a sign we hang on us or we make a tattoo with, God knows where, it is more than this, it is a state.
Living in the state of the cross it means living in a state of sacrifice (of dedication) for the others. But this model of sacrifice in our times is strongly disrupted by our way of being.
We are from an early age used to become selfish, to seek our pleasure, joy, satisfaction and to become the masters of the others in a complete disagreement with the state of sacrifice Christiany calls us for.
It is not a toxic, manipulating and abusive offering, but a sacrificial offering. Father Sofian, my elder, always told me: `Take care not be taken into possession by anyone, not to become someone`s slave.
That one is not a sacrifice, it is an abuse. Christian sacrifice is made serenely, with dignity and joy.
When you sacrifice yourself for the other one, you do something good for him, you raise him up from death to life, you don`t fulfill him a fancy, you don`t become a wretched slave of that one, you don`t become a victim of some abuses.
Saint Paul, the Apostle, says :`Carry each other`s burdens[…] but take care not to fall under their weight.
The Sacrifice of the Savior was not something ordinary, the fulfillment of some whims, of some superficial things from the people`s life, it was the difference between life and death.
The sacrifice brings peace of the soul, love and meekness towards the others. When you think you sacrifice yourself frothing with rage and being judgmental, you fail.
I saw this kind of sacrifice in family. Usually the woman/mother/wife is the one who sacrifices herself for her dear ones, but instead of being happy for her sacrifice/devotion, she becomes an embittered being, who lost all her joy for life.
She lives every day wrangling and criticizing and judging and in this way she loses her own salvation and of his salvation as well because that relationship becomes toxic.
The holy feast of the Cross calls us at a healthy state of sacrifice, our mind being in God and praying for the man you sacrifice yourself so that he may rise back on his feet from his fall. In this way you will keep your peace of mind, the joy of life and you will live with the hope that one day the Lord will bless your sacrifice and the fruit will come out.
It is the time for confession : `I am a Christian, I believe in God, I go to the Church, I confess, I commune and I am not ashamed with the Cross I wear.
This is a confession you make to all those around you, at your work, when the people ask you if you fast, if you go to the Church and if you are not ashamed to admit that on the street when you make the sign of the Cross before a Church and in this way the Sacrifice of the Saviour becomes a work which revives your life and it does not remain only a story which took place long time ago.
