Sunday, September 13, 2015

The Exaltation of the Cross of Jesus

(This feast marks the 35th anniversary of my father's death. I have now lived without his physical presence in my life for as long as lived with him. I still miss him.)

"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." Jn 3:13

The cross of Jesus Christ, as St Paul says, is a stumbling block for Jews and foolishness for Gentiles, (1 Cor 1:23) but the believer continues to hold the cross high, to exalt it, as a sign of God's unconditional love for us. Never easy to understand or to penetrate its mystery, the cross remains for those who believe a book of life, or as St Francis said, the only book we will ever need.

How we read the book of the cross is fundamental to our growth in faith. How, for instance, do we understand or interpret suffering? How should we approach death and dying? What can we expect from God when we carry our own crosses? Martin Luther King, speaking of what he labels unmerited suffering, writes, "Recognizing the necessity for suffering I have tried to make of it a virtue. If only to save myself from bitterness, I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an opportunity to transform myself and heal the people involved in the tragic situation which now obtains." (MLK)

The gospels make it clear that Jesus' suffering was unmerited. Refusing to accept Rabbinic interpretation of the Torah, Jesus challenged any law that diminished the poor or blamed them for their disease or their poverty. When the Rabbi's sought to undermine Jesus' power and dismiss his teaching, he suffered. His family thought he was crazy (Mk 3:2) for confronting the Jewish leaders and for risking persecution, but the Lord was not deterred.

Neither should we be turned away from a full Gospel life because it makes others uncomfortable and us suffer. Many younger friends of mine have been discouraged by their friends and families when they decided to leave the United States to minister to the poor overseas. "There are plenty of poor people here in the U.S.," they are told, and, "Why do you have to be so radical in your convictions?" Hearing this, these young people suffer, but often enough, when they read the cross of Jesus, they are comforted, especially when they hear him say: "Take my yoke upon you, for I am gentle and humble of heart." (Mt 11:29)

Today, ask God for the grace not to be afraid of the cross.

What about living a Gospel life causes you the most suffering?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please be discreet in your comments. I will monitor the comments, and only exclude those that are patently offensive.