Once I was speaking to my middle school students about the fact that the Cross shows us the depths of Christ’s love for us. One of my students asked, “Sister, how am I supposed to feel about Jesus’ death? Should I feel happy or sad?” I explained that we should feel both: that we should have sorrow for our sins, which caused Christ’s death, but also joy that He loved us enough to give Himself for us and to save us from our sins.

On Sept. 14, we celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. To be crucified was the most horrific and humiliating form of death in the time of Christ. Yet as Christians, we do not run from or deny the Cross because our God has used even this to overcome death itself. Therefore, we exalt the Cross; we triumph in the Cross. In the Cross is our victory, the victory of Christ over the sin and death that had enslaved us. As Christians, the Cross is our glory. With St. Paul, we boast in the Cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14).

We acclaim the moment that Christ saved us on the Cross as a moment of glory. But what about the moments when we are daily given to participate in that Cross? To share in Christ’s Cross is not easy — whether it be a larger cross that we must carry, such as sickness or the death of a loved one, or a smaller cross, such as being tired after a long day at work or just dealing with the daily stresses of life. In these instances of our own personal crosses, what can we learn from the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of Christ?

Christ commands us to “deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16: 24). If our crosses are a participation in the Cross of Christ Himself, then we can see in each of our crosses a chance to follow Him in loving self-gift. Our crosses are an opportunity for His victory over our sins to take root in our lives. Without ceasing to be moments of real suffering, these crosses can become our glory and our triumph because, united with the Cross of Christ, our crosses possess a meaning greater than themselves; our crosses can become redemptive, leading ourselves and others to embrace the salvation that Christ won for us by His Cross. Think, for example, of a moment of choosing to hold your tongue; it requires sacrifice but can result in preserving the good name of another.

Ultimately the moments we are given to share in Christ’s Cross are an opportunity for us, in the words of St. Augustine, to “value yourselves by what you cost.” When we unite our sufferings with those of Christ, we remember the price He was willing to pay for us. As I once heard a Franciscan priest preach to a group of teenagers on retreat, “If anyone ever makes you feel that you are worthless, remember that you are worth the death of the Son of God.”

Just as the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross should bring us both sorrow for our sins and joy in His saving love, so may each of our daily crosses present to us not only a share in Christ’s suffering but also an encounter with His love for us, bringing us life and joy!

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Sr. Mary Martha Becnel is a member of the Ann Arbor-based Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.