Saturday before the Exaltation of the Cross. Forefeast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God. Holy Martyr Sozon the Shepherd (304). Zhyrovytsi Icon of the Mother of God.
1 Corinthians 2:6-9. Matthew 10:37-11:1.
Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-9
Having a secret can be exciting. Having the knowledge that you are relying on something piece of information that is informing your decisions and confirming you can be reassuring. For Christians, this is the paradox of the Cross. What gives us life and confidence in this difficult world is in-fact the redeemed implement of torture and death!
The evil one in his pride will never understand the Cross. The Lord’s saving plan remained a secret from him because in all his knowledge and cunning, he was powerless to understand the humility, surrender and self-abasement of the Cross.
Perhaps you are a practitioner of the Jesus Prayer, the beautiful and ancient prayer “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Traditionally this prayer is prayed on a tied string of knots called a “chotky” (which just means a “counter”). The story goes that the monks wanted to keep track of their prayers and so devised the rope, but as they slept the evil one came and untied all the knots. An angel appeared to show them the “secret” of making a cross contained within the knot as the Cross cannot be undone by the devil. Each of the chotky knots has a secret cross in its centre, a cross we are meant to internalize and embrace in our life and actions, a “secret of salvation” which overcomes the world and the devil.