Have you seen the wonderful victory? Have you seen the splendid deeds of the Cross? Who can tell the Lord’s mighty deeds? By death we were made immortal. These are the glorious deeds of the Cross.
Have you understood the victory? Have you grasped how it was wrought? Learn, now, how this victory was gained without any sweat or toil of ours. No weapons of ours were stained with blood. Our feet did not stand in the front line of battle. We suffered no wounds, witnessed no tumults and yet we obtained a victory.
The battle was the Lord’s. The crown is ours. Since then victory is ours, let us imitate the soldiers, and with joyful voices sing the songs of victory.
Let us praise the Lord and say, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?”
The Cross did all these wonderful things for us. The Cross is a war memorial erected against the demons, a sword against sin, the sword with which Christ slew the serpent.
The Cross is the Father’s will, the glory of the Only-begotten, the Spirit’s exultation, the beauty of angels, the guardian of the Church. Paul glories in the Cross. It is the rampart of saints. It is the light of the whole world.
