O Crux Ave Spes Unica: The Cross

O Cross our only hope says the Liturgy.

It is by the Cross indeed that the Verb Incarnate, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity saved us.

All of us were condemned to eternal death since the Original Sin, but God in His infinite and merciful love found a wonderful way to save us: the Cross.

He sent us His Son, Jesus Christ who after having taught us, after having made many miracles, suffered His Passion and died on the Cross to repair the sins that nobody else could repair.

Sin is an infinite offense to God, the reparation has to be infinite also. The sins having been committed by human beings, had therefore to be repaired by a human being.

Jesus, because He is true God and true Man, could repair our sins, reconciliate us with heaven and open for us the door of Heaven.

And He did it on the Cross, to show us His infinite love “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15,13), and to show us the ugliness and the gravity of sin.

Since the Sacrifice of the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the cross which was an abomination for the people of the Old Testament, has become everything for us.

The Cross of Jesus is our pride, our flag. It is why we see it everywhere in the catholic places: in the houses, in the street, in the school, on the top of the mountains… Everywhere…

We want the Cross to be at the first place in our life, to remember what God did for us, to acknowledge that we cannot do anything without Him, to thank Him for all His benefits, and to love Him more and more. It is why the missionaries were always planting a Cross in the places where they were going.

It is also why our school is called Holy Cross. We want indeed to teach our learners to be truly Catholic.

• The Cross is giving them a strong Faith. Our learners are starting the day by attending the Sacrifice of the Mass. Every day they are at the foot of the Cross and can benefit from its infinite fruits ! Their School Anthem is the “Crux Fidelis”, hymn to the Cross sung during the Holy Week. Everyday they pray the Holy Rosary in front of the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

• The Cross is giving them Hope.
• Teaching them that sufferings and tribulations of the daily life are never useless, and that they can unite all what they suffer to Jesus’ sufferings, for the salvation of the souls.

• Reminding them that it is by the Cross that Jesus triumphed. The Cross is our Victory and will give to our learners a mentality of winner.

• The Cross is giving them a strong Charity teaching them how to be Apostle, not to be selfish and how to give to others what they have received (I Cor. 15, 3). The Cross will prepare them to be the men and women of tomorrow, to enlighten the society with their good example, to be, according to the word of Jesus,  the “Light of the World” (Matthew 5,14).

O Crux Ave Spes Unica (O Cross our only hope)! The members of Holy Cross Catholic International School are proud to work under the shadow of the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, together with the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Cross has given us, and is still giving us, absolutely all what we need to be true Catholics, good citizens of Kenya and future citizens of Heaven!

Author:
Fr. Louis Gravrand, SSPX
Chaplain, Holy Cross Catholic International School