It is the death of the Eternal Word of God made flesh, which is our great lesson how to think and how to speak of this world. His Cross has put its due value upon every thing which we see, upon all fortunes, all advantages, all ranks, all dignities, all pleasures; upon the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It has set a price upon the excitements, the rivalries, the hopes, the fears, the desires, the efforts, the triumphs of mortal man. It has given a meaning to the various, shifting course, the trials, the temptations, the sufferings, of his earthly state. It has brought together and made consistent all that seemed discordant and aimless. It has taught us how to live, how to use this world, what to expect, what to desire, what to hope. It is the tone into which all the strains of this world's music are ultimately to be resolved.

(Newman, "The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World," Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. VI, 84-85)

Our crosses are the lengthened shadow of the Cross on Calvary.

(Newman, Lectures on Justification, 177)

And, to anticipate, Newman has a lovely Easter sermon, "Difficulty of Realizing Sacred Privileges" at: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume6/sermon8.html