Nearing the Destination

Details: 30 March 2012

Without a Cross

In a convent of consecrated religious women near Milwaukee, there hangs in a prominent place a beautifully colored crochetcraft sign which simply says "Without a Cross, No Crown" (in German "Ohne Kreuz, Keine Krone"). It was brought from Germany by the founding nuns of the community and has inspired generations of Sisters, starting with those first pioneers who experienced unbelievable hardships on the American frontier which greatly tested their physical and moral fiber.

As we near the destination of our Lenten journey this year, which is our coming celebration of the Solemnity of our Lord’s Resurrection, and as we approach, in preparation for that greatest of our feasts, the holiest and most sacred week in our calendar, it would serve us well to impress that slogan of those Sisters deeply into our consciousness and carry it in our hearts as we participate in the sacred liturgies of Palm Sunday, the Chrism Mass (Monday), Solemn Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Thursday), Solemn Liturgy of the Passion and Death of Jesus (Good Friday), the Glorious Vigil of Easter (Holy Saturday Night), and the Triumphant Masses of Easter Sunday. Saint John of Damascus said, "No other thing than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ has subdued death, expiated the sin of our first parents, despoiled the inferno of hell, gave us the power of holding in utter contempt this present world and even death itself, prepared our human race for a return to its former and initial blessedness, reopened the gates of paradise for us, given our human nature a seat at God’s right hand, and made us God’s children and heirs."

Thomas a’Kempis writes in "The Imitation of Christ", "In the cross is salvation and life. In the cross is protection from our enemies. In the cross is an effusion of heavenly sweetness. In the cross is strength of mind. In the cross is joy of spirit. In the cross is the height of virtue, In the cross is the perfection of sanctity. There is no health of soul nor hope of eternal life, but in the cross of Jesus." Saint Paul, in the New Testament, exclaimed, "God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).

Popes

Pope Saint Leo the Great said. "The cross of Christ, which is granted for the salvation of mortals, is both a mystery and an example. It is a mystery by which the power of God is shown forth and an example by which man’s devotion is aroused." Our present Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, speaking last year at the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome on the evening of Good Friday, said, "This evening in faith we have accompanied Jesus as He takes His final steps of His earthly journey, the most painful steps, the steps that lead to Calvary. We have heard the shouts of the crowd, the words of condemnation, the insults of the soldiers, the crying and tears of the Virgin Mary and of the holy women. Now we are immersed in the silence of this night, the silence of the cross, the silence of death. It is a silence pregnant with the burden of pain borne by a Man rejected, oppressed, downtrodden, covered by the burden of our sins which mars His face...deep within our hearts we relive the drama of Jesus ...."

"What remains now before our eyes is a crucified Man, a cross raised on Golgotha, a cross which seems a sign of the final defeat of the One Who brought light to those immersed in darkness, Who spoke of the power of forgiveness and mercy, Who asked us to believe in God’s infinite love for every human person. Despised and rejected by men, there stands before us a Man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity, One from Whom others hide their faces (Isaiah 53:3). But, let us look more closely at this Man crucified between earth and heaven. Let us contemplate Him more intently, and we will realize that the cross is not the banner of death, sin, and evil, but rather the luminous sign of love, of God’s immense love, of something that we could never have asked, imagined, or expected. God Himself bent down over us. He lowered Himself even into the darkest corner of our lives in order to stretch out His hands to draw us all the way to Himself. The cross speaks to us of the supreme love of God and invites us today to renew our faith in that love, and to believe that in every situation in our lives, in our history, and in our world, God is able to vanquish death, sin, and evil and to give us a new risen life."

God Calling

Pope Benedict XVI said the night of Good Friday is one of silence but is actually full of hope. He said it is a very special time when we should spiritually hear God calling to us (in the words of Saint Augustine): "Have faith! You will come to Me and you will taste the good things of My table, even as I did not disdain to taste the evil things of your table. I have promised you My life, and as a pledge of this, I have given you My death. Look, I am inviting you to share in My life. It is a life where no one dies, a life which is truly blessed, which offers incorruptible food, the food which refreshes and never fails. The goal to which I invite you is friendship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, It is an eternal supper. It is communion with Me. It is a share in my own life."

Then the Pope says, "Let us gaze upon the crucified Jesus and ask Him in prayer: Enlighten our hearts, Lord, that we may follow You along the way of the cross. Put to death in us the ‘old man’ bound by selfishness and sin. Make us ‘new men’, that is, men and women of holiness, transformed by Your love."

Words on the Cross

In a section of Matins of the Byzantine Rite, dating from the 6th century, we read, "The cross is the watcher of the whole world, the adornment of the Church, the might of kings, the strength of the faithful, the glory of angels, and a deadly wound for the demons." In the old Latin Rite, we used to say: "O cross, brighter than the stars, honored throughout the world, most worthy of the love of men, holiest of holy things, you alone were found worthy to bear the ransom of the world. Sweet the wood, sweet the nails that bore such a sweet and precious weight."

Pope Saint Leo the Great preached, "When Christ is lifted up on the cross, do not let the eyes of your mind see those things only which the eyes of the ungodly see. They could see nothing but the rebuke of their own crimes..... Let our understanding, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, see with an untrammeled heart the true glory of the cross, which casts its light over heaven and earth." "We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You, because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world!"