A Homily for the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross (27)

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let himdeny himself, and take up his crossand follow Me” (Mk 8:34)

This Sunday of the great fast is called the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross—from venerating the Cross and the sufferings of Him crucified upon it for us, the Lord of glory, and also because the Church appointed to read on this day the Gospel concerning each of us bearing our own cross, or the sufferings and sorrows inseparable in this world from following Christ. “If anyone wishes to come after Me”, said Jesus Christ to the multitude with His disciples, “let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me”. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life”, that is, his very existence, that is, mortifies all his passions and desires, “for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mk 8:34-38). The Lord Jesus Christ commands us to utterly deny ourselves, that is, to deny Satan working in us and all his works, and all his service, and all his pride, and to take up our cross, that is, to bear the unavoidable heavy deprivations, diseases, sufferings and sorrows sent to us for our purification, instruction, and strengthening in virtue, and trials caused to us by demons and men. We are extremely attached to the life of the flesh; we have grown accustomed to sins, have clung to them, and fear to declare absolute war upon them, breaking all alliance with them; we offer them only half-measures, as if sparing ourselves with them, because they have become as it were our natural members, and therefore we always remain with them, and they take ever deeper root in us, the struggle against them becomes harder and more stubborn, we often lose ourselves to God and become daily prey and possession of the enemy. The words of the Lord: “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it” (Mk 8:35), are fulfilled upon us every day. We daily sell ourselves to our enemy through every kind of sin living and working in us; daily we die spiritually, and oh, if we would only as daily arise and come alive to God through tearful repentance! For “our sins separate us” temporarily “from the Lord” (Is 59:2). They can separate us eternally, infinitely, if we do not turn and repent with all our heart. But look at the examples of many sinners who became saints: Peter the publican, Mary of Egypt, Eudoxia and others; look in general at the examples of the saints, how they resolved decisively and irrevocably to engage in struggle against sin, against passions, against the devil; how sincerely they loved God and His righteousness, and, renouncing the life of the flesh for Christ and the Gospel, preserved their souls for all eternity. Why then do we not have decisive struggle against sin? We love temporal life very much; we fear to grieve the flesh; we fear strong temptations; we love the world and its goods extremely, forgetting the inevitability of death and the transition to a new life; we reckon on living many years in constant well-being; in pursuit of sensual pleasures we forget the divine nobility of our soul, its predestination to immortality and eternal bliss; we forget that it is infinitely more precious than the whole world with all its treasures, which, like a shadow, will pass. Condemning such foolish conduct of ours, the Lord says: “What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mk 8:36-37). There is yet another reason why we do not decisively abandon our sinful way of life and remain slaves of the world and its habits, customs, and the whole structure of worldly, vain life. Because many of us secretly are ashamed of our faith, ashamed to confess the Lord, to live according to His commandments, according to His Gospel, to follow Him, lest we lose the respect of the world, the honor in an adulterous and sinful world—and so they allow themselves to be carried away by the stream of worldly, sinful, vain, often very foolish and harmful life. They are aware that it is irrational, harmful to themselves, to spend time so precious; they know also the higher purpose of human life on earth, they know about the sacrifice of redemption offered for them on the cross, but the established way of life, the notions of society, the peculiar, perverted views of one’s companions on life, on faith, on the Church do not allow them to depart from the crossroads upon which they have placed themselves, and do not give them the opportunity to recollect themselves and come to themselves, to reflect on their fate. They are pitiful slaves of their environment, slaves of the sinful world, in which evil dwells. But if you wish, Christian, to follow Christ and enter into His glory, then you must by all means follow Him, fulfill His commandments, humble yourself, pray, love Him, suffer and endure. “By your endurance save your souls” (Lk 21:19). A terrible requital awaits unfaithful Christians for rejecting God’s great care for them and the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ offered for them on the cross. They were ashamed of Him, of His Gospel, of life according to the Gospel. And He also will be ashamed of them when He comes to judge the world in the glory of His Father, will not acknowledge them as His and will cast them out forever from His face. “For whoever is ashamed of Me”, says the Lord, “in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mk 8:38). A terrible fate! Therefore, while we have time, let us reject passions, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, not fear the cross leading to eternal glory, and irrevocably follow Christ, wherever He commands: “For where I am, there also My servant will be” (Jn 12:26). Amen.