My brothers and sisters in
Christ, tonight we focus more so, then on maybe any other day of the year, on
the invitation to “enter into the thicket of the trials and pains… of the Son
of God.” And not just with the consideration of the mind, but also with the
disposition of the will to accept suffering voluntarily, in order to unite and
assimilate ourselves to the Crucified.
Pope Francis, in his first
homily he gave to the Cardinals and priests, the day after he was elected Pope,
stated this, “When we walk without the Cross, when we build without the Cross,
and when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord.
We are worldly, we are bishops, priests, cardinals, Popes, but not disciples of
the Lord.
I would like that all of
us, after these days of grace, might have the courage - the courage - to walk
in the presence of the Lord, with the Cross of the Lord: to build the Church on
the Blood of the Lord, which is shed on the Cross, and to profess the one
glory, Christ Crucified. In this way, the Church will go forward.
My hope for all of us is
that the Holy Spirit, that the prayer of Our Lady, our Mother, might grant us
this grace: to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ Crucified. So be it.”
Pope Francis, on day one
of his papacy, reminded us that by suffering with Jesus, we shall understand
His sufferings better and have a better comprehension of His love for us, for
“the purest suffering brings with it the most intimate and purest
understanding:’ and “no one feels more deeply in his or her heart the Passion
of Christ than one who has suffered something similar”
In a world where suffering
for the sake of Love and Truth, is a foreign idea, where love is desired
without suffering, where our happiness is defined as having the ability to do
as we want while shunning the cross, we as true Christians, must not only seek
to embrace our own cross for our own sanctification, but we must be witnesses
to the world, concerning the power of love which is shown in uniting our
sufferings with those of the savior.
The savior, who feels the
weight of the enormous burden of all the sins of mankind; He, the Innocent One,
sees Himself covered with the most heinous crimes, the millions of aborted
children, the grave offenses against women, offenses against the poor, the
hungry, the weak and the down trodden, the crimes against marriage, family,
children, against the Church and the sacraments, against the dignity of humanity,
he feels the weight of it all, and
as it were, he makes the enemy of God the target of his suffering, so as to
destroy the effects of sin and Satan, and to temper God’s justice with mercy.
The cross is our glory, it
is our life, and without it we have no hope of redemption. Jesus said if you
would be worthy of me, take up your cross and follow. Die to your own pride,
your own desires, the allurements and lies of the world, and follow me. Enter
into my mission to save the world. To not abandon the cross and suffering. The
other day, someone told me, that their God loves all people and accepts them no
matter what. I said great, our God does the same, and he invites us to suffer
with him so that we might understand that His Truth, not ours, is what will set
us free, and that to live the Truth is eternal life.
As we reflect this evening
on the instrument of our salvation, as we venerate and kiss the instrument on
which Jesus draws all people to himself, and gives meaning to the meaningless, sets
sinners free, and provides the path to Eternal Life, let us never run from the Crucified Christ.
Let us instead, seek to proclaim with our words and more so with our actions
that which is foolishness to the world, but is to us who are being saved, our glorification and justification,
the cross of Jesus Christ.
The secret of learning to
suffer in a virtuous way consists in forgetting oneself and one’s sorrows and
in abandoning oneself to God.
In doing so, we will no
doubt begin to experience the bliss for which we were created, so that all
suffering will become sweet, and we ourselves, will understand clearly, that
Love, Our God, our sole strength in fear, weakness and distress, is our
confidence. And He, dwelling within us, in the throne of our hearts, will abide
with us as our protector; He alone has dominion and power over our whole being,
when we suffer with him, when we abandon ourselves completely to him, only then
we will truly be able to say to him; Jesus, you alone are my love! I want
nothing but you. Thank you for the cross. Amen.
"All my salvation and
joy are in You, O Crucified Christ, and in whatever state I happen to be, I
shall never take my eyes away from Your Cross."
