good morning and welcome to the dinery garden in canterbury cathedral on this morning of tuesday the 14th of september wherever you are in the world feel welcome and bring your own prayers and concerns as we say our morning prayers together on this holy cross day september the 14th which is a a major feast in the church's calendar it used in years gone by to have a a a particular message on this day but there was another feast on may the third which was also in our calendars it's in the 1662 prayer book and in the the briefer is from the past and the two dates may the 3rd and september the 14th have now been joined together on this day which is called holy cross day when we remember the cross as the sign of our salvation through the perfect sacrifice of christ it gives us a chance to think how important that sign has been to christians throughout the ages and how important it is to us now whenever we see it many of us carry it in a small portion some around our neck and some in our pockets and all sorts of ways of just reminding ourselves of christ the may the third feast used to remember the finding of the true cross it was said by uh saint helena empress helena the mother of the emperor constantine when she went on a pilgrimage to jerusalem and in the year 326 discovered what she found to be the the true cross and that then caused the holy church of the holy sepulchre to be to be built or all of that through saint helena's finding of those things in that at that time but that feast has now been put brought together with this feast holy cross day itself and we are giving thanks for that sign which appears so often in so many places marking them with the sign of christ we shall reflect much on that in our special readings for today i'm sitting under a a very cloudy sky but a nice calm morning and quite a warm september morning if we think of various things happening across the world perhaps first we in this country would like to send condolences to our prime minister boris johnson on the sudden death of his mother charlotte and at the same time we remember people in areas of danger through natural events let's think today of hurricane nicolas which is going towards the coast of texas where so many of us will have friends there and the the amount of rain that's going to fall is clearly going to be fairly dangerous to to to people there in flooding we think also uh with thanksgiving of the freeing of the nigerian students kidnapped from their school two weeks ago and now released again uh that's a sign of great gladness or an event of great gladness for their families and the nigerian nation and for the whole world to see the children released again the students released again think of the people of norway following their election just going around to spots throughout the world but of course we still think of those in danger from fire and flood and earthquake and pandemic across the world and i leave it to you to bring prayers for the areas that you know best or even your own areas on this day as we remember the holy cross together let's start our prayers and i'm using the beginning of prayers for passion tide which are fitting for this day oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise let your ways be known upon earth your saving power among the nations blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief your only son was lifted up that he might draw the whole world to himself may we walk this day in the way of the cross and always be ready to share its weight declaring your love for all the world blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our son today is psalm 72 for this 14th morning of the month it it mentions in its verses kings who kneel before the uh the the the gods that they're worshiping offering gifts and this is a day that we remember the emperor constantine before ever he became a christian seeing in the sky the bright bright shining of the sign of a cross and he took that and it became a preparation for his own conversion to christianity and at the same time with that cross went the words in this sign conquer and that has always been a a a a motto that went with the cross in some way it came first in the simple greek words en tuto nica in this conquer there's no need to say the sign of the cross because that was the vision but then in the latin when it's carved it's in hoxino vince in this sign you will conquer and we take that not ourselves as kings and powerful people but we take that into our own lives as the sign of the cross pointing to christ's sacrifice in the second council of nicaea there was a a distinction drawn between worship which was only to be offered clearly to the divine presence of the holy trinity worship and veneration offered to signs which pointed us to the way to worship and to that which was divine which we worship remember how angels quite often say to folk in the bible who in the book of daniel in the book of revelation when you you find the person kneeling in front and you must not do that they say we like you are servants of god worship god and in venerating the cross we're venerating its way of pointing us not only to the infinite majesty of the creator but also of the way in which he humbly took our human state offered himself and gave his life on the cross for us this is psalm 72 give the king your judgment so god and your righteousness to the son of a king then shall he judge your people righteously and you're poor with justice may the mountains bring forth peace and the little hills righteousness for the people may he defend the poor among the people deliver the children of the needy and crush the oppressor may he live as long as the sun and moon endure from one generation to another may he come down like rain upon the moon grass like showers that water the earth in his time shall righteousness flourish and abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more may his dominion extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth may his foes kneel before him and his enemies lick the dust the kings of tarshish and of the isles shall pay tribute the kings of sheba and siba shall bring gifts all kings shall fall down before him all nations shall do him service for he shall deliver the poor that cry out the needy and those who have no helper he shall have pity on the weak and the poor he shall preserve the lives of the needy he shall redeem their lives from oppression and violence and dear shall their blood be in his sight long may he live and unto him may be given gold from sheba may prayer be made for him continually and may they bless him all the day long may there be abundance of grain on the earth standing thick upon the hilltops and may its fruit flourish like lebanon and its grain grow like the grass of the field may his name remain forever and be established as long as the sun endures may all nations be blessed in him and call him blessed blessed be the lord the god of israel who alone does wonderful things and blessed be his glorious name forever may all the earth be filled with his glory our men are men they wonder that we use that psalm mostly the feast of the epiphany when we remember the magi the wise men coming and kneeling before our lord's manger with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh a sign of all nations kneeling and on this day that the holy cross is that sign which points to the humility and vocation of the christ well let's read a special lesson for today we're not with joseph but we are in st john's gospel chapter 12. it's a really important passage and tigers here enjoying the comfort and warmth of being here with me this is jesus in the temple surrounded by people people of his own nation but you'll remember in chapter 12 of saint john's gospel verse 20 some greeks arrive they're in the outer courtyard of the temple and all nations may enter that outer courtyard and the greeks are desperately wanting something and you remember how they touched the arm of philip and tell him here we are chapter 12 verse 20 of st john's gospel now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some greeks so these came to philip who was from bethsaida in galilee and asked him sir we wish to see jesus philip went and told andrew andrew and philip went and told jesus and jesus answered them the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified truly truly i say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone but if it dies it bears much fruit whoever loves their life loses it whoever hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life if anyone serves me they must follow me and where i am there will my servant be also if anyone serves me the father will honor them now is my soul troubled and what shall i say father save me from this hour but for this purpose i have come to this hour father glorify your name then a voice came from heaven i have glorified it and i will glorify it again the crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered others said an angel has spoken to him jesus answered this voice has come for your sake not mine now is the judgment of this world now will the ruler of this world be cast out and i when i am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself jesus said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die so the crowd answered him we have heard from the law that the christ remains forever how can you say that the son of man must be lifted up who is this son of man so jesus said to them the light is among you for a little while longer walk while you have the light lest darkness overtake you the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going while you have the light believe in the light so that you may become children of light well it's an important moment in time because throughout john's gospel jesus has been saying that the hours not yet come and now the question from those from another nation in the outer courtyard of the temple a question to the outermost apostle there philip so we would like to see jesus jesus when he is told that there are those from a different country wanting to see him says now the hour has come and i when i am lifted up will draw all people to myself it's a wonderful moment and i'm i've said before that the fur four words to show people jesus taken from that earlier part of the story to the question we would see jesus is the cathedral here's the canterbury cathedral's mission statement but here we're thinking of how jesus obviously fearful as a human being of the vocation he has to undergo is himself tentative about the vocation he has to fulfill what shall i say father save me from this hour no it is for this hour that i have come father glorify your name and the holy cross is the sign of the glorifying of the christ i when i am lifted up will draw all people to myself september the 14th excuse me september the 14th is an important day in terms of time as we've said the day in which when saint benedict drew his rule this day turned the monastic pattern from summer to winter don't forget it was a northern hemisphere rule and the the hours changed and it went right through till easter day there are some stricter orders who keep a fasting time through from the 14th of september right through till easter day with the break for the christmas period the 12 days there but this 14th of september in history has proved certainly for this nation and other nations in 1752 for when people woke up on this day which should have been september the 3rd the date had changed to september the 14th because the calendar was being corrected from the julian calendar to the gregorian calendar which we are now on and people lost 11 days and at that time there were there were riots across across the country give us back our 11 days in fact they'd not lost today they were living through the next day but the dating was changed so that everything might be in alignment with the way the year changed and that we remember on this september the 14th well as we go through with that and think of the day that the holy cross is then exalted we are ourselves in time fulfilling the morning prayer for this september the 14th [Music] on this day when we celebrate the sign of the holy cross other things also have happened but there's one particularly that i wanted to mention one anniversary and that is the fact that on the 14th of september 1321 the italian poet dante died he died in exile in ravenna he had been born in florence and he loved florence but in the early part of his life florence was riven by two political factions and it happened by the middle of his life that he belonged to the wrong one and had to go into exile and never ever uh attained permission to go back in fact at one stage his life was put in danger by a a a a ruling by the then political faction who weren't on his side saying that he deserved sentence of death and it was at that time in his life in exile that he wrote his divine comedy now people always feel it strange that that very long italian poem going through the soul's journey towards the infinite majesty and glory of god is called a comedy but one has to remember the technical word the comedy's tragedies histories that a comedy was something where all things in the end would order themselves for good and this very much does that as the journey goes onwards through the inferno up into the airy slopes of mount purgatory and then on into the paradise right up to the sempeternal rose and the glory of the majesty of god [Applause] and dante wrote that long poem which is certainly um the the most famous poem at medieval times of that time and also is one of the great literary wonders of all writing dante wrote that poem not in latin which everyone was used to reading long poems in but in the vernacular italian so here in the water tower garden of the cathedral we have a a long dark stone column and it comes absolutely vertically down it's a thin column put there about i think 10 to 12 years ago and carved on it it goes into the ground almost saying from the depths to the earth and upwards to the heaven carved on it are the [Music] words at the beginning of the divine comedy and they're not in latin as i say latin was the language of scholarship latin was the language of liturgy and latin was the language of philosophy it's also very often the language of literature but dante wanted to expand the way in which people were understanding that kind of of of poetry and so he wrote it in his own vernacular and on the column you will read it's not perfect italian it's it's actually the vernacular of his time nel mezzo del caminos which means at the midpoint of the pass through life i found myself lost in a wood so dark the way ahead was blotted out it's an amazing statement and it's almost dreamlike just as the way that bunyan's pilgrim's progress begins with a dream and dante then begins his long long poem in verses of three lines with the rhythm [Music] there's a time uh later when chaucer would break into english the latin was pushed aside so that many many more people could understand as the poems were read and you remember how dante in going through the journey from this life beyond and lifting our own eyes and hearts and souls right up to the the really center of heaven the sympathetic roses he calls it he begins in that dark wood with the latin poet virgil remember that virgil was seen as a very special latin poet because of his eclogue which talked about the golden age which was dawn when a divine child would be born but at the same time he was a sign of human reason and for the passage through the the darker inferno virgil is his guide we always need companions bunion is the same in his pilgrim's progress companions on the way and virgil leads him right through until they come to the time where it is beatrice the sign of divine revelation who takes over as dante enters paradise now we know that beatrice or was a a young girl when dante met her on the first occasion i think they were only nine years old in florence and the image of her was an image for him of passionate but dignified courtly love right through it's thought he only met her twice you may have met her many times but he's certainly not seen her for many years because biatrici beatrice died at the age of 25 and he met up once again and described it in the street in florence and there are there are portraits painted particularly by the um pre-raphaelite school of thinking of dante seeing beatrice there but it was a love which was ideal and beatrice becomes the image of that that love which is ideal carrying from human reason into divine revelation and then finally even beatrice isn't enough to carry him through sin bernard of clavo comes to take him right to the center of everything when even for dante at the end words fail well some of you will have read the divine comedy in in the italian or the vernacular at that time some of you will have read it in your own languages others may not know it except as uh an image of the way in which we pass like a journey through life and on the way the sign of the holy cross is always there to show the way in which our lord jesus christ himself showed us in the person of the divine the way in which humankind can replicate that in daily offerings of self-sacrifice to one another but sometimes called to the full vocation when life is given up for the sake of another well that's not only something from medieval times or from earlier times that happens day by day right across the world but all of us who walk in that way venerate in the proper sense of the word the sign of the cross and this 14th of september is a day when we just set aside 24 hours to think about what that sign means for us all at this time so we give thanks for this day holy cross day and think of the times that we see the cross but think of the times even more when we're asked to help carry that cross in our own life i think probably the best prayer for holy cross day is isaac watts is him when i survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died my richest gain i count but loss and poor contempt on all my pride where the whole realm of nature mine that were a present far too small love so amazing so divine demands my soul my life my all thanks be to god for this holy cross day we shall say the prayer for holy cross day and as we do so today we are praying for the diocese of europe and that is one of the provinces within the compass of the church of england that the bishop of europe looks after the anglican congregations are helped by other nations who have their own episcopal or anglican congregations across europe too so we give thanks for the life of of that province and here in the diocese as we think of justin our archbishop and rose bishop of dover and tim bishop at lambeth we think also today of all those clergy who assist often in retirement in the villages of the wheeled of kent it's those parishes we're praying for and we'll go on through the days of this week to pray for them one by one but today we're just giving thanks for quite often a traveling ministry of people who live nearby who are ordained who can go along and help parishioners in their worship and celebrate communion for them and even do some of the past pastoral work there it's a a long list and we give thanks for them all here's the colleague for holy cross day almighty god who in the passion of your blessed son made an instrument of painful death to be for us the means of life and peace grant us so to glory in the cross of christ that we may gladly suffer for his sake who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so we say each in our own language the prayer our savior taught us our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen moment of silence now for your own prayers on this holy cross day so so uh the peace of god which passes all understanding and keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always are men well we've just i think made our broadcast at the right time because the rain is falling now and so tiger and i will seek shelter and you coming back up here no we're going to go now [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] my soul [Music] so [Music] [Music] you