4. A Glorious Discovery - The Cross

I absolutely love flying through space. Side by side Sophie and I passed the most amazing nebula and asteroids. Stars sparkled all around us. The air was thin and clean, just the way I like it. Sophie seemed to know exactly where she wanted us to land, so I didn't give a second thought to the path we were taking. As we approached Earth zillions of dust particles saturated the atmosphere, and slowed us down.

I rarely visit Earth. To be honest, I think matter frightens me. It is so different from anything I had ever known. Well, I mean air. Matter comes in so many shapes and textures, hardnesses and colors. It's just confusing. Sophie comes here all the time, and so she is used to it. I suppose that I must get used to it too.

"Wonderful!" exclaimed Sophie as we descended gradually into an expanse of arid land spotted with cedars and olive trees. When we arrived we were warmly greeted by Horatio, a fellow angel.

"Greetings, my friends, how was your journey?" said Horatio warmly.

Simultaneously Sophie said, 'Wonderful!' and I said, 'Long!'

"Here she is!" Horatio pointed to an elegant old woman who appeared strong and determined. He added, "She prays constantly; I need a small army to transmit the messages day and night. She is a tough cookie though and determined to get what she came here for."

"What does she want?" I asked.

"She came here from Constantinople, imagine that; such a long journey for such an old woman. She came to find the Cross that the Son of God was killed on over 300 years ago. We have had to help her through all sorts of obstacles to get here, and now we must help her find it."

If I had eyes, they would have been bulging, and if I had a face it would have been bright red. I looked at Sophie so completely flabbergasted that I could hardly speak. "What is this I heard him say about God being KILLED!!!! on a cross?" Just as I am beginning to accept all of this foolishness about time and matter, and even God having a Mother (geesh!!!!) and then a Bride, now they want me to believe that God was killed! I just wanted to fly right back to where I came from and hide. I could not, not in a zillion of these things called Years, believe or accept how much the God I knew had changed. How low could God go?

Sophie, feeling my anguish tried hard to console me as I cried, but I was inconsolable. My God was great and amazing, majestic beyond words, loving, perfect, brilliant! Why oh why would He endure such evil? It's as if He took himself over to Lucifer's side, and became His own enemy!

Sophie, whispering through my wailing gently said, "God is proving to Lucifer that He can even use evil to accomplish His brilliant mission. Please don't be so upset. God will be victorious, I promise you. Calm down and watch what happens with the old woman."

To quickly change the subject from my catastrophic revelation, and thus bring me into this moment, Sophie added "Her name is Helen, and she is the mother of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, which is now located in a land known as Turkey. She is a queen, which is the highest level of human. She has come to honor God's Son.

With that, the focus went to the old woman. She had a retinue of workers who she was ordering around.

"Mam, how can you ask us to destroy the Temple of Aphrodite! Surely the goddess will be furious with us! Please your majesty, don't ask us to do this!"

To this, Queen Helen replied, "There is no God but our God; fear not Aphrodite. As the goddess of love and beauty, she has been protecting this holy site where the supreme act of love took place. What Emperor Hadrian meant to destroy, God used for good." It was true that Hadrian sought to defile and cover up the place of Christ's passion and hopefully also from the minds of the people. But that was a mission impossible.

Queen Helen went on, and as if talking to me said, "The Son of God allowed Himself to be killed because of His selfless love of humanity. We must find the cross of our Lord's crucifixion, now start tearing down those walls immediately! I did not come all this way to have my demands ignored!" Helen was a feisty woman.

With that the workers hacked at the marble, stone by stone. It was a grueling job, but they succeeded in dismantling the beautiful temple, while donkeys carried away the stones.

Sophie, Horatio and I hovered at the site for many revolutions of light and darkness. Helen was tireless and determined in her mission. She rarely left the site to sleep. Her servants brought her food.

Finally, early one mid-September morning, deep within the rubble pieces of wood were uncovered. The excavators spurred on by this find, dug furiously. Many other humans had gathered around. Gradually three distinct crosses were unearthed. Tears welled up in men's eyes. Women wept out loud.

"Oh, Lord," prayed Helen out loud, "please reveal to us which of these crosses is the Tree of Life." And then she fell silent to listen for God's reply.

Horatio, unable to penetrate Helen's fervor hovered over a priest named Macarius, who was also known as the Archbishop of Jerusalem (how these humans glorify themselves is truly impressive.)

As if from his own mind, Macarius shouted to his aid, "Quickly, go fetch Naomi."

After quite a while of quiet chanting and praying, two men carried in a palette upon which lay Naomi, ill beyond hope. Naomi was taken to the first, and then the second cross with no effect, but when she reach the third cross, Naomi miraculously sat up. Right before our very eyes, we saw her healed! I would not have believed it, if someone had told me how quickly this woman became well.

The cross revealed itself through this healing to be the life saving cross of crucifixion (does that make sense?)

Immediately, Helen shouted orders to elevate that cross for all to gaze upon.

On September 14th, 325 years after the Crucifixion the Cross was found and reconstructed as a monument of salvation, for those who believe and to whom God has granted sight. This awesome event, a moment of triumph of light and love over darkness is the act that sealed forever the age of Roman persecution of Christians. It rests at the beginning of the Bride's year like bookends, The Birth of the Mother, and The Mother that Raised the Cross in Victory, to hold within them the entire earthly life of the Son of God.