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

As people of prayer these words are ingrained in us from a young age when we make the sign of the cross. Often used as a formality to commence and conclude prayer, the gesture is sometimes performed so quickly by the prayer leader that in keeping up our own signing becomes somewhat Tau shaped.

Nonetheless, the mark of the cross which we place on ourselves is a profound point of connection to the Divine Presence as we remind ourselves in gathering that our Trinitarian God is always amongst and within us. And in our sending forth we are beloved and blessed to do good works in the name of God.

This gesture, spoken with the words - ‘of’ the Father - ‘of’ the Son - ‘of’ the Holy Spirit, carries with it a call and commitment to be people ‘of’ the cross.

In the Gospel stories, characters were often identified through the place they were from. Consider Jesus of Nazareth, Mary of Magdala, Simon of Cyrene. This place being their home-town, an indicator of one’s cultural roots and ways of life.

When we apply this thought to our own lives we might ask ourselves: 
In what ways might we be ‘of the cross’? 
How might we make a home for ourselves in the cross through the outstretched arms of Jesus? 
How might we carry with us our cross-identity as we journey from place to place? 
What cultural practices and ways of life define us as being ‘of the cross’?

We need only look at the life of Jesus Christ to learn the way of the Cross - marked by love, compassion, mercy, justice, peace, inclusion and reverence for all creation. And in knowing the life of Christ we also realise this path isn’t always smooth sailing. If the life of Christ is anything to go by, the only way to reach our resurrection moments in life is through the cross and the darkness of the tomb. From crucifixion to the triumph of the cross, God’s transformative power prevails, once again making all things new and glorious.

In our own backyard we see the way of the cross exemplified by our own St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. When taking on a religious vocation she took the title Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Mary often spoke about the joys and hardships of the cross. She once said, “we may feel our crosses hard at times, but our courage should rise with them.”

As the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross we are all invited to take up the Cross and follow Jesus through darkness into light. As we make the sign we are reminded of our call to be of the cross. Like Jesus along the Via Dolorosa (sorrowful way), and like St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, we embrace the cross in all its fullness though hard at times. We support one another in carrying its load. We stop to wipe one another’s tears. We ask for mercy. We offer up forgiveness. We fall and we rise with courage for we are all ‘of the cross’.