Crucified With Christ: Galatians 2:16-20, especially vs. 20: "I have
been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives
in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Looming over the days of September surrounding the Elevation of the
Life-Giving Cross as above the solemn days of Great and Holy Week, is
the dread, self-giving Crucifixion of Christ our God. His Precious
Cross draws the mind to the Extreme Humility - to the price of living
"...by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me
(vs. 20).

Remember how, after each service through the year, we file forward for
the blessing of kissing the Cross - still another reminder. To what
purpose do we hold before us the Lord Jesus' Crucifixion? In truth, the
Cross teaches the embracing of Crucifixion - a thought is woven into the
Apostle's words. He speaks to you and to me. Make the Apostle's words
your words, look deep into yourself as in a spiritual mirror. Look and
say, "I have been crucified with Christ...." More exactly in the
original, the words are, "With Christ I have been co-crucified" (vs.
20). Each of us was crucified with Christ, not apart from Him, as if
the disciple's crucifixion could happened separately from His. The
crucifixion of each Christian occurred once, in AD33 , "with Christ."
How can this be? It is through the eternal "operation and indwelling"
of the Holy Spirit.

"Dost thou unite thyself unto Christ?" is asked before Baptism. I say,
"I do," and the Church prays that I might "...be a...partaker of the
death and resurrection of Christ our God." What of the two thousand
years that stand between us and Christ's death? Primarily, since He is
eternal, His Crucifixion is not bound by time, although it took place in
time. His Crucifixion is forever suffused with the power of the
Eternal, so think in terms of the hymnody of Great and Holy Thursday:
"Today He is hung upon a Tree Who hung the earth above the waters."

A personal cross was placed around our neck at Baptism, an ever-present
reminder to each of us that "I have been crucified with Christ." Our
co-crucifixion is not idealism, but participation, an essential truth,
eternal in dimension and significant in overcoming all of death.

What follows my co-crucifixion after I say, "I have been crucified with
Christ"? Listen to the Apostle: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ
lives in me." There is no more I. Oh, fellow Christian, submit every
thought, desire, choice, and act - all those elements of this present
life - and join them to the Lord and His Cross. To Him refer, defer,
and with Him confer.

We refer our thoughts to the Lord's mind (Phil. 2:5). We defer to His
will (Ps. 142:11), and we confer with Him at each step in life (Jn.
6:68). Battle and struggle are joined; for part of my and self often
want to turn back. My soul finds continuous trial. Saint John of the
Ladder says of this constant effort that it "...brings about a cooling
of the fire of the heart through mental confession." By grace we enter
upon what Saint John calls "blessed gladdening sorrow" at our Baptism,
firmly crucifying the desires and passions until compunction raises us
pure to Christ.

Saint Paul knows that the self dies hard. Therefore, he states the
profession of all who would risk being co-crucified with Christ: "...the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God."
Say it at each step in this life trusting Him, for Life is Him "...Who
loved me and gave Himself for me." Father Paul Tarazi says of Christ's
love, "It is...the origin of everything that brings about our salvation,
and it is nothing less than love on our part that can show forth the
fact that we have indeed received God's gift in Christ. Faith...does
not at all secure our salvation, [and] cannot at all prove to be truly
faith...unless it passes the test of love."

Lord, in faith and love we stand before Thee and submit all despair to
Thy deep mercy.