I beg your indulgence for choosing to write this piece during Eastertide because most Catholic faithful associate reflections on the Cross of the Lord Jesus with the Lenten period. But Eastertide should remind us of the triumph of the Crucified Lord. Since the world we live in is driven by a voracious lust and desire for things opposed to the Nature of God, we need to understand suffering and the characteristics of the world to comprehend better the victory won by the Holy Cross, and then we come to glory in it. However, human logic asks what glory there can be in the cross which it sees as an instrument of torture and shame. The answer is beautifully described in St. Paul’s declaration to “never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14-18).
Paul gloried in the Cross because he saw the radiant hope of the world in this most selfless act that took place upon it. Here was the end of the believer’s bondage to sin. Here was the greatest demonstration of the love of God shed abroad in the hearts of men. Here, a lone man dying on a cross did more to restore man’s lost harmony with God, his fellowman, and himself. Here was the combined genius and power of Earth’s mighty. Here is the perplexing mystery of Christ’s atonement, where all who come in simple, trusting faith lose all their guilty stains and find peace with God. Knowing this, Paul declared his position in contrast with false teachers who glory in matters of the flesh. Paul chose to glory only in the cross of Christ. For him, the essential message of Christianity entailed the preaching of the Cross. Regarding the Cross presents only two positions – either it is offensive or we glory in it. The Cross changed Paul’s life and became the most glorious thing he ever knew; so, he gloried in it. He thus asserts that the cross has the power to free believers from the world’s bondage, to do what the flesh cannot do, and to bring salvation.
We (Catholics) spend 45 days every year contemplating this act of the Lord Jesus, but what we see in it is the spectacle of the Prince of Glory dying on a cross. We scourge ourselves asking why Christ died on the cross. We see it merely as an act of begrudged men. We fail to see the prophecy fulfilled for God’s purpose even before creation. Yet this is the centre of God’s plan of Salvation. In the Cross, we find God’s wisdom and justice in forgiving sinners. In it is displayed God’s grace, righteousness, holiness, immutability, and love. In it, God’s attributes are harmonized. In it, God pours out His wrath on Christ so that He does not pour it out on us. This demonstrates God’s endless love for us. How we view the cross determines our eternal destiny. We must see it as everything and glory in it to be saved. We must develop a positive attitude towards the Holy Cross. It must become the sole object of our glorying.
Boast of the Cross
Journeying through the Bible in search of understanding the Cross, we encounter St. Paul sharing his experiences. We realize that glorying in the cross must be a personal confession of faith (1 Corinthians 2:2). It is a firm, lifetime resolution. It is an end to my boast in the self. It is accepting that we are nothing. It means being indifferent to the high regard of others. It is letting go of the virtues and greatnesses that we speak before others. It is putting a stop to glorying in the self and to boasting in self-worth and self-merit. It is the end of the desire to be God – a sin that we many times overlook in our actions.
In St. Paul’s days, some people boasted particularly in the law of the Old Testament about their circumcision and even sought to force others to submit to it. They believed such practices and their strict observance of the law merited for them righteousness with God. Many Christians are like this. We boast in our righteousness and observances of devotions, liturgical seasons and feasts. We boast in our good works, our stations and our positions before God because of what we are in the church. But we boast so that we may have the glory of fellow man, and St. Paul denounces such boasting.
For through the law, I died to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me (Galatians 2:19-20).
Possess the Fine Pearl
In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul reveals how he above all had reason to boast in the flesh (Philippians 3: 4-6). After all, he was circumcised on the eighth day (i.e. as instructed in the law). He was of the race of Israel (i.e. of the chosen people). He was of the tribe of Benjamin (i.e. a true descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). He was a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage (i.e. an unblemished Jew). He was a Pharisee (i.e. strict in observance of the law). He was zealous for the God of Israel (i.e. well-qualified to persecute the church). He was blameless (i.e. righteousness based on the law). Yet, even considering all these, when compared to the excellence of the Lord Jesus Christ, they were nothing but a loss. Paul would no longer seek to please God in the energies of the flesh. Paul did the one thing which many of us still struggle to comprehend – he sold everything to possess the fine pearl (Matthew 13: 45-46). For the sake of the supreme good of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul accepted the loss of all things and considered them so much rubbish, worthless and offensive. Thus, he sought to gain Christ and to be found in Him, not because of the righteousness based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ Jesus.
Personally Connect with the Lord Jesus
Being in Him meant that Paul could renounce his self-righteousness and henceforth live by the righteousness which is from God by faith. The foundation for his spiritual life was in what the Lord Jesus did for him and not in what he did, was doing, or would do for the Lord Jesus in the future. This requires a personal connection with the Lord Jesus (Philippians 3: 8-11). This is righteousness from God, which depends on faith to know Him and the power of His resurrection by sharing in His sufferings and being conformed to His death. This is how we somehow may attain the resurrection from the dead. Glorying in the Cross necessitates knowing Christ Jesus, wanting Him, and finding peace with God. Knowing Him means knowing the power, which is the new life imparted to us now in the Holy Cross. But knowing Jesus entails knowing the fellowship of His sufferings. Not forgetting that being in Christ also means being in His death. As children of God, suffering is part of our heritage. Following Jesus and being in Him gets us to be part of the family of suffering (Romans 8:17). Suffering and death in the Christian life is a necessary way to achieve the goal of the resurrection life right now and the ultimate resurrection from the dead.
It is tempting to think we are spiritually mature and sufficiently pure to have conquered all spiritual difficulties and think we have arrived at near perfection. But St. Paul assures us that this is not so. Despite the finished work on the Cross, we have not already attained and we are not yet perfected. The true child of God understands perfection in all its parts and acknowledges imperfection in all its stages of development in the faith. Like Paul, we must realize that we have not arrived. Nonetheless, we hope in the one option, to press on. We cannot turn back (Luke 9:62). Our child-like faith must meet a real maturity. Our efforts must purpose to do God’s will.
In the Cross, I appreciate how the Lord Jesus lays hold to make a new me walking in newness of life (Romans 6:4), to conform me among many brethren to His image (Romans 8:29), to make me His witness to others (Acts 9:15), to use me as an instrument in the conversion of others (Acts 9:15), to bring me into suffering for His name’s sake (Acts 9:16), that I too, might attain the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:11) and lay hold of this heavenly hope.
Pursue the Holy Cross
We will not look to the past and be distracted from our glorious future. We must press on in the present because eternity touches us in the now. A race is won only in the present moment, not in the past and never in the future. Our prize is the upward call of God. The prize is the call itself, and being able to run the race at all. It is working with God as a partner to do the work of His kingdom. This high calling comes from above, from God Himself. Because it is conceived from His merciful heart, it is truly worthy of God. It is way above the ideals of men. It is a summon to Christ, who sits at the right hand of God. It is a glorious call, worth reaching forward for. It is only in Christ Jesus, not in the effort of our flesh. This is the mindset that we must have. Just because we lack understanding does not excuse us from doing what we know is God’s will. What we do not know can never excuse us from failing to fulfil what we know how to do. We must be of the same mind to do what we know. This unity of truth must hold us together, not tear us apart by pressure from without (Philippians 1:27-30) as from within (Philippians 3:2).
Glorying in the Cross with others like Paul will help us to walk the walk (1 Corinthians 11:1). But we must be wary of the enemies of the Cross – liberalism and indulgences of the flesh (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 and Romans 6). We remember that salvation cannot come without repentance and conversion. The soul cannot be saved if it doesn’t matter what you do with the body. When we do not pick the cross of self-denial, we fail to follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus, and we become enemies of the Cross (Matthew 16:24-26).
Take-Home Message
Mother Church presents the Cross as a powerful universal symbol of the Christian Faith. We glory in the Holy Cross when we make it a part of our Christian living. We invoke the Holy Trinity with the Sign of the Cross at the beginning of all our praying. We open our minds, cleanse our lips, and purify our hearts with the little sign of the cross at the reading of the Gospel. We experience God’s unconditional love when praying the stations (way) of the Cross. We demonstrate our love for the crucified Lord by kissing His feet at the veneration of the Cross on Good Friday.
As a constant reminder and witness of Christ’s ultimate triumph and His victory over sin and death through suffering and dying on the Cross, we Catholics place a crucifix in our churches and homes, in our classrooms and other institutions, and wear this image on our persons. We meditate on His words and unite ourselves with his obedience and His sacrifice (Matthew 10:38-39). We rejoice in this fathomless gift through which is our hope of salvation and the Glory.
*NB: Unless specifically stated, all Bible quotations are from the NABRE Version.
