Sep 29 Tue
How can I explain the Cross?
The Cross is not explained with words; it is carried on our shoulders with Christ.
The Cross, humanly speaking, is a paradox. How can an instrument of death become a source of life? How can a defeated and crucified man be the Savior of the world? It is precisely here that God's way of acting is manifested.
Before Our Lord began his public life, He spent 40 days in the wilderness.
The desert is "the place of trial" where our securities disappear, and we are called to decide in whom we place our trust. As happened to the people of Israel or to Jesus himself, temptation always presents a choice between trusting in God or trusting only in ourselves.
On the Cross, we understand the Love that remains faithful to the end.
When we look at the Cross, we see a great Love. It shows us to what extent man is capable of causing suffering, but above all it shows us how far God is capable of loving and forgiving.
This is why the Church exalts the Cross. We do not exalt pain, violence, or death. We exalt the Love which, in the midst of pain and death, remains faithful to the end.
We often want to win by eliminating suffering; Christ conquers through it. We would like to overcome evil with violence; Christ conquers it with the gift of himself. We would like to save ourselves; Christ saves us by giving himself.
It is precisely from this that Christian hope is born, because the Cross does not promise us a life without suffering, but something greater: embracing the Cross, there is no suffering in which God cannot be present.
For this reason, the Cross is not explained in words. The Cross is carried on our shoulders, and by carrying it with Christ, we discover that hardships can also become the moments when God manifests himself as Love.
The mystery of the Cross is the mystery of a Love that goes to the end.
Where can we find hope?
Since the events at Golgotha, we Christians cannot offer easy explanations, but we can point to the Cross and say: God did not abandon man on Golgotha. God entered the wound of humanity and left, a few steps from Golgotha, an empty tomb.
That is why the Cross is hope. Because the Cross carries within it the hope of the resurrection, and we are all called to proclaim the meaning of the Cross.
Thus, from Jerusalem, Mount Calvary continues proclaiming to all: God so loved the world... And each crucifix continues to remind us that this love reached up to the Cross.
This is the journey of our faith: from the desert to trust, from temptation to abandonment to God. From the Cross to life, from wound to hope. Because the Cross tells us that we have been loved without measure, loved to the end. And there, at the foot of the Cross, we find our Mother Mary.