Orthodox Christians this week mark the Sunday of the Holy Cross. At the midpoint of Lent, the church makes a special point of placing the cross before us to console and embolden believers en route to Pascha, or Easter. Through its veneration and contemplation we gain strength for the journey, its upthrust beam like a staff of support. And yet, the cross is a tool of death. Why turn our minds and hearts toward such a dread instrument?
C. S. Lewis once observed that “crucifixion” and “cross” didn’t carry the weight they once did. “Centuries of hymnody and religious cant have so exhausted these words that they now very faintly — if at all — convey the idea of execution by torture,” he said.
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