Photo by Jonas Allert on Unsplash, provided by Fr. Tyler Kreipke, C.S.C
I was drawn to Holy Cross primarily by the community that I found there, this band of men who had found an authentic joy in serving Jesus Christ together. I was drawn, too, by the charism of being educators in the faith, as I had a great love of teaching. The Congregation’s spirituality centered on the Cross as our only hope, though, remained a little opaque to me. It was fine, but it didn’t resonate with me in the early stages of my discernment and living with the community. It seemed a little strange, and still does from time to time: the Cross as our hope, not Jesus’ teachings, not His miracles, not His birth, not even His Resurrection!
But, as I moved through my time in seminary, and now into my early years of priesthood, the spirituality of the Cross — the hope of the Cross — has begun to open itself to me and reveal something of its wisdom, its beauty, and its strength.
I remember one winter day in my second or third year of studies, when I was walking around the lake between the seminary and Notre Dame’s campus on my way to teach an engineering class as part of my ministry assignment for that year. It was coming after a week or two of lectures that didn’t go as well as I would have liked, and just feeling like I wasn’t connecting with the students. As I made my way around the lake, I felt a strong sense of doubt, insecurity, and of being misunderstood by my students. But in that moment, too, I began to experience a unique encounter with the Lord Jesus, who was Himself misunderstood, who sometimes didn’t make the connection He wanted with the people to whom He was preaching.
And I remember, in that moment, finding new strength. I began to see the beauty of the Cross in a new way. Because what that walk around the lake revealed was something of the invincibility of a spirituality of the Cross: that even the unpleasant and troubling moments of our lives have become moments of new and profound encounter with our crucified Lord.
The Cross, more so even than the teachings and miracles, and yes, even the Resurrection, reveal how Christ has entered into all things in this life and sanctified them with His presence. The Cross shows that even, and especially, when we feel like we are moving farther and farther out of His reach, He has already gone out to all the limits of our human experience so that He might meet us there.
In the Cross, we see that God wastes nothing. Now, in the Cross, even our smallest moments, our weaknesses, our darkest and most troubling times, become privileged and profound encounters with our Lord Jesus Christ. As St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, there is nothing — neither life nor death, nor angels or demons, nor powers or principalities, nor present or future things — that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (8:38-39). Now, all is swallowed up in victory. That is a spirituality worth being shaped by. That is a hope worth living into. Hail the Cross, our Only Hope! Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
By Fr. Tyler Kreipke, C.S.C.
Published October 28, 2026 by the Office of Vocations
