Arrival Day, being Holy Cross Day
Prayer
to the Holy Cross
Anselm of Canterbury
O
holy cross,
which recalls to us that Cross on which our Lord Jesus
Christ, by his death,
brought us back from the eternal death for which we were
most wretchedly destined,
and led us into the eternal
life that we had lost through sin:
In you I worship, venerate, and glorify that Cross
which you represent for us,
and in that Cross I glorify
our Lord, the Merciful One,
and the acts that he
accomplished there by his great mercy.
O Cross worthy of love,
in which is our salvation, our
life, our resurrection![1]
O precious wood,
through which we have been
saved and set free![2]
O admirable sign,
by which we are signed for
God!
O glorious Cross,
in which alone we ought to
glory![3]
It is not because
of the mad blasphemy of those cruel men who made you ready for the Most Gentle
One that we are to meditate upon you,
but because of the One who in
supremely wise obedience willingly took you up.
For they could do nothing to him but what he wisely
permitted,
and he bore nothing but what
he mercifully willed.
They chose you in order to carry out their wicked designs;
he chose you to fulfill his
righteous work;
they, that by you they might hand over the righteous to
death;
he, that through you he might rescue
sinners from death;
they, that they might kill life;
he, that he might destroy
death;
they, that they might bring death to the living;
he, to bring life to the dead.
They acted foolishly and cruelly;
he acted wisely and mercifully.
Therefore, O wondrous Cross,
we do not value you according
to the cruelty and madness they intended,
but according to the mercy and
wisdom he accomplished.
How, then, shall I praise you?
How shall I exalt you?
With what love shall I pray to
you?
And with what joy shall I
boast in you?
Through you hell is despoiled,
and it is emptied of all those
who have been redeemed through you.
Through you the demons are filled with terror and held in
check,
conquered and trampled
underfoot.
Through you the world is renewed;
it is made lovely by the light
of truth and the rule of righteousness.
Through you sinful humanity is justified,
the condemned are saved,
the slaves of sin and hell are
set free,
and the dead are raised to
life.
Through you the blessed heavenly city is restored and made
complete.
Through you God,
the Son of God, willed for our sakes to become obedient to the Father, even
unto death;
therefore he was highly
exalted,
and received the Name that is
above every name.[4]
Through you he made ready his throne[5] and
inaugurated his reign.
O Cross,
chosen and prepared for the
sake of such unutterable goods,
not human minds and tongues
alone, but angelic ones, too,
praise and exalt the great
works that have been done through you.
O Cross,
in which and through which is
my salvation and my life,
in which and through which is
all my good,
far be it from me to glory,
except in you![6]
For what profit is it to me if I am conceived and born,
if I live and enjoy all the
good things of this life,
but afterward descend into
hell?
Truly, if it were to be thus with me,
it would be better had I never
been conceived.[7]
And it would indeed be thus with me,
if I had not been redeemed
through you.
With what great joy, then, shall I glory in you,
without which there would be
no glory for me,
but indeed only the eternal
misery and grief of hell!
With what great delight shall I rejoice in you,
through which, instead of the
enslavement of hell,
I am made an inheritor of the
kingdom of heaven!
With what great joy shall I exult in you,
since without you I should be
terrified to exist even for a moment,
and with you I can rejoice
that I shall live for ever!
For although as yet I am halfway between fear and hope in
serving God,
still, I know with assurance
that through you I will attain such great joys
if I glory in you by giving
thanks, in how I love you, and in how I live.
Through you, therefore, and in you be my glory,
through you and in you be my
true hope.
Through you let my sins be wiped away;
through you let my soul die to
its old life
and be made alive to the new
life of righteousness.
As in baptism you cleansed me from the sins in which I was
conceived[8] and
born,
cleanse me anew, I pray, from
the sins that I have committed since I was reborn,
that through you I
might attain those good things for which human beings were created,
which are offered to us by our
Lord Jesus Christ,
“who is blessed for ever. Amen.”[9]
[1]
Cf. Introit for the Mass of the Holy Cross.
[2]
Ibid.
[3]
Cf. Galatians 6:14 and the Introit for the Mass of the Holy Cross.
[4]
Cf. Philippians 2:8–9.
[5]
Cf. Psalm 9:8.
[6]
Cf. Galatians 6:14.
[7]
Cf. Matthew 26:24.
[8]
Cf. Psalm 50:7.
[9] Cf. Romans 1:25.