"Had there been no cross, Christ could not  have been crucified. Had there been no cross, life itself could not have been nailed to the tree. And if life had not been nailed to it there would be no streams of immortality pouring from Christ's side, blood and water for the world's cleansing. The legal bond of our sin would not be canceled, we should not have attained our freedom, we should not h ave enjoyed the fruit of the tree of life and the gates of paradise would not stand open. Had there been no cross, death would not have been trodden underfoot, nor hell despoiled" (St. Andrew of Crete).

The cross, in a sense, is neutral. What human beings do with it determines how it is looked upon. Men have used the cross to punish others through a cruel, painful, inhuman, slow death. It was a way of stripping the person of all dignity. But Jesus embraced this form of death in order to transform the cross, for those who believe in him, into a sign of victory. The same instrument, two different results.

Therefore, with St. Paul we can proclaim: "May I never boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! Through it, the world has been crucified to me and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).