When the winds of the world howl around us, when it is hard to see the way ahead, when it is hard to hear what the Spirit is speaking to our soul, we need something firm, something clear, something utterly immovable.
The motto of the Carthusian Order echoes Our Lord in the Gospel today: “The Cross is steady while the world turns.”
Jesus says, “…just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” What of the serpent in the desert? Those who were bitten by serpents had only to look upon it and be saved. When we look upon the Cross, standing there, unmoved, at the intersection of Heaven and Earth, piercing the very “…place of the skull…” (John 19:17) in an everlasting victory over death. That Cross, that invincible, immovable Cross, is the bowsprit of the Church, bursting through every wave, leading the charge through every obstacle, shining through every mist and spray, through the smoke of the Enemy’s confusion. Look to the Cross and see the love of God like a banner unfurled. Look to the Cross for proof of your salvation. Look to the Cross for healing from every wound, for “…by His wounds you have been healed,” (1 Peter 2:24).