For this 2nd Sunday of Advent the Roman Station church is the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem where the wooden beams of the Cross and relics of the Passion brought to Rome by the Empress Helena were deposited and are venerated still today. Last week we were stationed at St. Mary Major where wooden slats of the Lord’s manger crib at Bethlehem are reverenced. This Sunday we, like Christ Himself, journey from the crib to the Cross. In the choice of the Roman Stations, Holy Church reminds us of what St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury preached in a final sermon before his immanent death on 29 December 1162:
At this time of year we celebrate at the same time the birth of Our Lord and his Passion and death upon the Cross. Beloved, as the world sees it, this is to behave in a strange fashion. For who in the world will both mourn and rejoice at once and for the same reason? For either joy will be overcome by mourning, or mourning will be cast out by joy. So it is only in these our Christmas Mysteries that we can rejoice and mourn at once for the same reason. The crib and the Cross are two of the great mysteries of our salvation, but we cannot truly understand one without the other. …
