Today we venerate the Cross at the midpoint of the fast. The Church places it here as a traveler places water along a long road — at the moment we are most thirsty for what we have set out to find.
The Cross is not a symbol of defeat. It is the Tree of Life. From its wood the Author of life chose to give Himself, that the bitter wood of Eden might be answered by the sweet wood of Golgotha.
The Lord says: whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Not lay it down. Take it up. The Christian life is cruciform — there is no other path.