Exaltation of the Holy Cross • Day 5 • Fast & Pray

Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, we join our voices with the Church in every age and every place, proclaiming: “Glory to Your Cross, O Christ, and to Your holy resurrection!” You have turned the instrument of death into the sign of victory. Help us to boast in nothing but Your cross — through which the world is crucified to us, and we to the world. Make us agents of the reconciliation Your cross accomplished. Amen.

Scripture Reading

Galatians 6:14 — But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Colossians 2:13–15 — And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Reflection

The journey ends not in exhaustion but in triumph. St. Paul’s boast in the cross isn’t morbid fixation on suffering — it’s the joyful declaration that the cross changes everything. Through it, the world’s power to impress us dies, and our need to impress the world dies with it. The Armenian church’s feast of Khatchverats gathers this all up: the basil, the ancient hymns, the lifting high of the Holy Cross — all of it a proclamation that God’s love has conquered death and that our losses, struggles, and endings are not the final word. To glorify the cross is to become an agent of the same reconciliation it accomplished: bringing healing where there is division, and hope where there is despair.

Personal Reflection Questions

Make one act of reconciliation or peacemaking today — as simple as apologizing for a harsh word, or as significant as reaching out to someone you’ve been avoiding.
Before bed tonight, name three specific graces God brought from a challenging time in your life: losses that became gifts, struggles that became strength, endings that became beginnings. Bring this thanksgiving to the feast day.
What have you been tempted to boast in besides Christ — or maybe in spite of Christ?
How has God brought good from a season of difficulty in your life?
What would change if you truly believed the cross was the sign of your greatest victory?

Group Discussion Questions

St. Paul uses an athlete’s word for victory — but his only victory lap is around the cross. What does it feel like to reframe the cross not as a symbol of suffering but as a trophy of victory?
“Through the cross the world’s power to impress him dies, and his need to impress the world dies too.” Where in your own life do you feel the pressure to impress — and what would it look like for that to die?
The Feast of the Exaltation arrives decorated with basil, sung over with ancient hymns. What role does beauty and ceremony play in your ability to actually feel what you believe, not just know it?
The cross is called “God’s great reconciliation,” and when you boast in it, you become an agent of healing. Is there a relationship in your life right now where you’re being called to be that agent — even if it costs you something?
This five-day journey ends with glorifying. Looking back over desire, denial, taking up, and following — which step felt most alive in you this week, and which felt most like unfinished business?

Closing Prayer

Glory to Your Cross, O Christ! Glory to Your holy resurrection! We have journeyed from desire to glory, and we give You thanks. Let the cross be our boast, our hope, and our joy. May we who have been forgiven much, love much. May we who have been reconciled, become ambassadors of reconciliation. And may our lives, like the fragrant basil at Your feast, be a sweet offering to You. Now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.