The Finding of the Cross

St Helena and St Constantine with the cross of Jesus.

Today the church commemorates the day when St Helena found the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Being the mother of Emperor Constantine, who ended the persecutions in 313 AD, Helena was determined to find the abandoned cross on which Jesus was crucified. The excavations actually found three crosses buried in Jerusalem close to Mount Calvary. To verify which was the actual cross of Christ, they asked a sick person to touch each cross. He touched the first two crosses and nothing happened. When he touched the third one, the person was completely healed, and thereby they concluded which was Jesus' cross.
The Cross of Christ dominates our lives in many ways. So many of us start meetings, classes, trips and gatherings with the sign of the cross. Passing by a cemetery, you see hundreds of crosses lining up the entire area. This feast is also called the Exaltation of the Cross, or the Triumph of the Cross. We all have crosses to carry, but when we are given a cross, we are also given the strength to carry it through our lives. May we let Jesus walk along with us and help us carry our crosses.