Good and Beautiful Morning BELOVED.

Happy feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.

Best prayerful wishes for a warm and pleasant mid-week,

filled with appreciation and love for the beauty and

glory inherent in the Cross of Christ.

At all times and in every given situation,

may God inspire and enable you to see the Cross of Christ

and the crosses in your life and family, from a divine perspective,

rather than a human perspective.

Through the glorious merits of His Cross at work in your life,

may God be your strength and wisdom in the midst of trials and troubles.

As you keep on trusting in Him, in both good and bad times,

may God never leave nor abandon you.

May He rather continue to carry you through when you feel weary and can’t go on.

As in the experience of the Isrealites bitten by snakes in the desert,

may God visit you today and always, with healing and blessings,

and grant you the mysterious victory that comes from the Cross of Christ,

over every battle or struggle that comes your way in life.

Through Christ our Lord Amen.

We Adore You O Christ Prayer from the Stations of the Cross

The saint who gave us this prayer is best known for his love of the poor.

While St. Francis is well known for his love of the poor and

most vulnerable of society, he also had an intense love of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

In his Letter to All the Friars,

St. Francis gave the following exhortation that clearly displays his passion,

Let the entire man be seized with fear; let the whole world tremble; let heaven exult when Christ, the Son of the Living God, is on the altar in the hands of the priest. O admirable height and stupendous condescension! O humble sublimity! O sublime humility! that the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation he hides himself under a morsel of bread.

Whenever he caught sight of a Catholic church in the distance, St. Francis was known to kneel down and give praise to God. Often he would say the following words that he passed on to his friars.

We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ, in this church and all the churches of the world, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world. Amen

This little prayer was used by Franciscans for many centuries and over time it was adapted to become a “standard” prayer in the popular devotion known as the Stations of the Cross. Franciscans were instrumental in spreading this devotion throughout Europe and the United States and so it should come as no surprise that this prayer of St. Francis has become the main prayer for this devotion.

Typically, the prayer is shortened to say, “We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because, by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.”

It is said at the beginning of each Station and is usually prayed while genuflecting.

The next time you pray the Stations of the Cross, remember St. Francis and his passionate love of Jesus.

By Your Holy Cross You have Redeemed the World

Christ himself carried up our sins in his body to the tree,

so that, free from sins,

we might live for righteousness;

by his wounds we have been healed.

This feast is called in Greek Ὕψωσις τοῦ Τιμίου καὶ Ζωοποιοῦ Σταυροῦ (“Raising Aloft of the Honored and Life-Giving Cross”), in Russian Воздвижение Креста Господня’ and in Latin Exaltatio Sanctae Crucis. In English, it is called The Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the official translation of the Roman Missal, while the 1973 translation called it The Triumph of the Cross. In some parts of the Anglican Communion the feast is called Holy Cross Day, a name also used by Lutherans. The celebration is also sometimes called Feast of the Glorious Cross.

Various legends were sometimes associated with this special day, but they are ignored by the churches I associate with, who feature the day as a day to express our great thankfulness for the salvation that came to the world through the cross and the willing heart of Christ to bear it even unto death.

A Recollection (Prayer)

Almighty God,

who in the passion of your blessed Son;

made an instrument of painful death

to be for us the means of life and peace:

grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ

that we may gladly suffer for his sake;

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

An Intercession Prayer:

Let us pray to the Father through his Son,

who suffered on the cross for the world’s redemption;

Fill with your Spirit Christ’s broken body, the Church …

Give to Christian people everywhere a deep longing

to take up the cross and to understand its mysterious glory.

By the Saviour’s cross and passion,

Lord, save us and help us.

Bless those who lead the Church’s worship …

In the preaching of the word

and the celebration of the sacraments,

draw your people close to you.

By the Saviour’s cross and passion,

Lord, save us and help us.

Give your grace to those who preach your word to the nations …

Help us to witness to the faith we have received

by our words and in our deeds,

and daily conform us more and more to Christ,

that we may glory in his cross.

By the Saviour’s cross and passion,

Lord, save us and help us.

Look in your mercy upon the world you loved so much

that you sent your Son to suffer and to die …

Strengthen those who work to share

the reconciliation won at such a cost upon the cross.

By the Saviour’s cross and passion,

Lord, save us and help us.

Bring healing by the wounds of Christ

to all who are weighed down by pain and injustice …

Help the lonely and the betrayed, the suffering and the dying,

to find strength in the companionship of Jesus,

and in his passion to know their salvation.

By the Saviour’s cross and passion,

Lord, save us and help us.

Welcome into paradise all who have left this world in your friendship …

According to your promises,

bring them with all your saints

to share in the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection.

By the Saviour’s cross and passion,

Lord, save us and help us.

Holy God, holy and strong,

holy and immortal,

have mercy on us.

Acclamation:

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you;

by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

We preach Christ crucified,

the power of God and the wisdom of God.

By your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

God forbid that I should glory,

save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you;

by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

(1 Corinthians 1 and Galatians 6)