This is how you remind me of what I really am

I intended to write this post yesterday, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, but the day got away from me.  Consider it a late reflection on a feast of great importance in the Franciscan community, providing as it does the foundation for the Feast of the Stigmata (on Saturday, September 17).

Anyway, for years have have been haunted by the refrain of this song from Nickelback:

The sum total of the song has never quite added up to a coherent message, but fragments of it grab at me:  “never made it as a wise man,”  or “I’ve been wrong, I’ve been down to the bottom of every bottle.”  In particular, the line “This is how you remind me of what I really am”  comes back to me, repeatedly, as though it were the the answer to a question that wasn’t asked, or a response to something God has said that I didn’t quite hear.  What is the referent?  What is the “this”?

But yesterday at mass, while praying after communion, it suddenly all seemed very clear:  it is the cross that reminds me of what I really am:  a sinner, saved by the cross;  a slave, ransomed with a son.  Redeemed, cherished,  loved.    Praise be to our God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

A belated but most blessed feast day to everyone!