I met a lady a few years ago who told me she has a memory of attending the Holy Week ceremonies with her young daughter. She said the daughter especially liked to go to the Good Friday celebration of The Lord’s Passion and was fascinated by the reverencing/kissing of the Cross. The priest however held the Cross in such a way that the little child couldn’t reach it. She used to ask her mother “Do you think I’ll be able to reach the Cross this year?”
The question is a good one though – “Do you think I’ll be able to reach the Cross this year?” Reaching the Cross has, I think, something to do with an awareness of its meaning in our lives. Chances are we are all reaching for it in some way or another – trying to understand more of it – some, sadly from the vantage point of the cross itself as they struggle with personal illness or the illness of a family member. The answer, we are called to believe, lies in some understanding of the Cross and Jesus’ triumph over suffering and pain.
LENTEN THOUGHT: We might pray, as our Lenten journey goes onward, that we will “reach” the cross this year and find answers to our deepest and most difficult questions.