Third Sunday of Great Lent: The Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross
Categories: parish-life, feast-days
Date: 22 March 2009 03:03:03
O Lord, save Your people,
and bless Your inheritance.
Grant victories to Your people
over their adversaries.
And by virtue of Your Cross,
preserve Your habitation.
Before Your Cross,
we bow down in worship, O Master;
and your Holy Resurrection
we praise and glorify!
It does not seem possible that we are midway through Great Lent already: but we are, here on the Third Sunday of Great Lent: the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross. As we approach Pascha, and the death of Christ on the Cross and his life-giving Resurrection, the Orthodox church gives us this feast not only as a preparation for Good Friday, but a reminder of our call, particularly during Great Lent, to be crucified with Christ. Fr Alexander Schmemann in his book Great Lent writes on this:
...having endured this fatigue [of Great Lent], having climbed the mountain up to this point, we begin to see the end of our pilgrimage, and the rays of Easter grow in their intensity. Lent is our self-crucifixion, our experience, limited as it is, of Christ's commandment heard in the Gospel lesson of that Sunday: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mark 8:34). But we cannot take up our cross and follow Christ unless we have His Cross which He took up in order to save us. It is His Cross, not ours, that saves us. It is His Cross that gives not only meaning but also power to others.
And as written in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese's page on this feast:
As they who walk on a long and hard way and are bowed down by fatigue find great relief and strengthening under the cool shade of a leafy tree, so do we find comfort, refreshment, and rejuvenation under the Life-giving Cross, which our Fathers “planted” on this Sunday. Thus, we are fortified and enabled to continue our Lenten journey with a light step, rested and encouraged.
After the Divine Liturgy, we processed around the outside of the hall we rent for a church, chanting O Lord, save Your people, And bless Your inheritance. Grant victories to Your people over their adversaries. And by virtue of Your Cross, preserve Your habitation., and then processed in and around the Church, continuing the singing of the hymn. Attending Matins and Divine Liturgy for me today was one of those blessed days where I truly wished the services could've continued all day: I felt comfort, peace and strength in being at church and joining in with the hymns and prayers today like I have not felt in a long time. Thanks and praise be to God.
There was some good news in relation to our search for a permanent home: an affordable property has been found. I ask for your prayers as this is considered.
And there was some sad news. Our priest is leaving us, I believe to return to Lebanon. As long-suffering readers of my ramblings may remember, we have gone few quite a few priests in a short period of time. I am not sure why, or if there are issues I am unaware of: regardless, I ask for your prayers for the future of our parish and for a future spiritual father.