The Holy Cross and the Eucharist: living with a purpose

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Cross, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The origins of this feast go back to the early centuries of Christianity and are associated with the dedication of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Church's veneration of the wood of the Cross on which Christ accomplished our salvation.

At the heart of every Eucharist stands the mystery of the Cross. The Eucharist makes present the one sacrifice of Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, who offered himself for us on Calvary. His sacrifice was offered once for all, yet its saving power reaches us whenever we gather to celebrate the Eucharist. Through this sacred mystery we are drawn into Christ's death and resurrection and share in the grace that flows from his redeeming love.

Yesterday's second reading from St Paul's Letter to the Romans14:7-9 reminds us: ‘For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living’.  He continues: that ‘We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s’.

For me this passage capture something profound about the Eucharist and about the Christian life itself. Through Baptism and the Eucharist we belong to Christ. Gathered before the Cross and around the altar, we remember that our lives find their true meaning not in ourselves but in him. The Eucharist grounds us in the saving events of Christ's passion, death, resurrection, ascension and heavenly glory, making them present and effective in our lives here and now. As we honour the Holy Cross today, we give thanks for the love revealed on it and renew our commitment to live and die as those who belong entirely to the Lord.