September 14, 2004

A little less than one month after the tragic events of September 11, Frank Selecchia, an ordinary man, made a dramatic discovery. While working in the dusty and mangled debris of the now-destroyed World Trade Center, Frank saw something that caught his attention. There, standing almost upright in the rubble, was a massive cross. The twenty foot cross, made up of three iron
I-beams, was said to have been a part of Tower One and fell intact into Building Six on September 11. When Frank found the cross he simply stood there in silence and cried for about twenty minutes. He describes the phenomena of finding the cross in the rubble as "an act of God".

Each year, the Church in both the East and West celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This morning, as we were saying our morning office, we could hear the pealing bells of a nearby Russian Orthodox Church. They too are celebrating this day when in the year 320, the empress Saint Helena discovered the true cross of Christ.

We all know that the cross is the symbol of Christianity. From its earliest years it was used not only as a sign of faith, but of hope. In the midst of persecution and suffering, the cross was seen as a banner of victory. For the early Christians, to look at the cross was not only a looking back to Christ's saving death, but a look forward to their own liberty and resurrection to new life.

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The cross upon which Christ suffered and died was not holy in itself, but it was "exalted" and made holy. There is nothing holy about the execution of the innocent, yet even this terrible evil can be sanctified through the presence of the Holy One who suffered this evil on our behalf. This is the mystery - the miracle - we call redemption. Like the mythical King Midas who had the "golden touch", Christ the King has the godly touch which makes blessed hope emerge victorious out of dust, death, and ashes. As Frank would put it, "an act of God".

Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR
Community servant (superior) residing at St. Felix Friary in Yonkers
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