In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me.

I adore you with profound reverence.

I ask you for pardon of my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful.

My mother immaculate, St. Joseph, my father and Lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

Well, in the middle of September, we celebrate two very beautiful feasts, very powerful feasts,

that lead us into prayer, and above all, lead us to

contemplate the immensity of our God's love for us. And I'm referring to the feast of the

triumph of the Holy Cross on the 14th of September, and then the following day, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, the 15th.

The triumph of the cross. It seems like a bit of a contradiction, doesn't it? The cross, the ignominy of our Lord's crucifixion,

the apparent utter failure of our Lord's crucifixion, the apparent utter failure of our Lord's mission,

the end of it all, in such barbarous aggression, such hatred, such sorrow.

And yet we Christian celebrated as a triumph.

And very often we see the cross perhaps at Mass.

If there's a solemn procession at the start of the Mass, the cross is carried in triumph,

a beautiful processional cross.

There's a great, you could say, tradition in church

art of processional crosses going back to centuries to the beginning of the church. Jewel studded

crosses, golden crosses, silver crosses, or perhaps we were an elegant cross around our neck

as a decoration as much as something

for our prayerfulness. The cross often we see it in that kind of triumphant, elegant way,

an elegant crucifix, a beautiful work of art. And yet what is happening there? What happens on Good Friday, what happens on Golgata is

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