Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Lectionary: 638


Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.



A Veteran told me of his failure in Baghdad. He had come upon the scene too late; a woman and her daughter were dead in the street. Had he been there sooner he might have saved them. He had volunteered to serve in Iraq not because he believed in the American presence there, but because he hoped to save lives.

Seeing mangled bodies in a market street where consumers shopped for their daily bread broke the spirit of this young man. 

The enemy discovered the weakness of the American invasion. They could not resist the warplanes or tanks; there was no weakness there. They could not interrupt the supply of food to feed American soldiers, nor munitions to arm them. But they could exploit our weakness, women and children. An American believes non-combatants, especially the "innocent"should be exempt. All fighting should stop when a child wanders into the kill zone. When the American soldier sees the mangled bodies of toddlers and children something within him dies. The Vietnamese figured that out a half-century ago. Everybody knows it today. 

We should consider that the next time we go to war (with North Korea or Iran?) They might kill their own women and children. Then our demoralized warriors will return home to drink heavily, consume drugs, abuse their loved ones and finally commit suicide. We can afford to lose personnel and materiel in war, but we can't afford endless years of not knowing how to care for our morally wounded Veterans. We thought they would "do the job" and come home to resume the normal lives of civilians. We know better now; the whole world knows we have no stomach for real war. Even the "virtual war" of drones and smart bombs is proving too much for our joystick warriors. They're breaking down even as they sleep with their wives and children in comfortable, suburban homes. 

The Exaltation of the Cross celebrates God's weakness. He could not stop loving us even from the cross. He poured out his last drop of blood with his dying breath. Americans also have weaknesses, though we hate to admit it. We love children. Perhaps our enemies can exploit that weakness and help us to stop going to war.