By Sr Lini Sheeja MSC –
“Oh Sister, Sister, Sister!” The desperate cry from the other end of the phone was loaded with distress. She seemed to throw discretion to the winds, as she let go; opening the floodgates of the swelling dam of her woes. “I am done Sister, done with this never-ending cistern of sorrow and shame. Why, oh why do I have to go through so much, and that too for no serious fault of mine? I cannot take it any more Sister, I just cannot!”
The alcoholic husband of this nurse had been making life miserable for her with his drinking bouts and the violent outbursts that followed. The neighbours knew, and looked down on her with disdain.
With the good intention of setting him free of his addiction, she had him admitted in the very hospital where she worked. However, the mental effects of withdrawal surfaced in him in the form of hysteria and violence. The good name, respect and reputation that she had earned in her 15-year long service in the hospital was being flushed down the drain by her husband’s erratic behaviour. Her colleagues threw glances of disgust in her direction. She felt ashamed, humiliated and very helpless, to say the least. She could not bear it any longer, she told me.
I listened quietly, allowing her to empty herself of all her misery, on my shoulder. All the while, I kept asking the Lord to heal her, and to grant me the Grace to respond to wisely to her sharing. The Holy Spirit inspired me to say, “Yes dear I do understand your plight. I can very well imagine what you are going through. I am not trying to make light of your sufferings, yet let me tell you, “Aren’t we all children of God, aren’t we followers of Jesus? Don’t we know how much of shame and disgrace our loving Jesus had to go through for our sake, to save you and me? You agree don’t you? Your Cross is not one of shame and disgrace but one of Love and Glory!
Therefore, I suggest, you offer all your humiliation and dishonour to Jesus. Unite your sufferings with His Cross for conversion into Grace, for the Grace to forgive your husband, to accept him as he is, and to love him despite his faults and failures. Your sufferings will have tremendous salvific value, if united with those of Jesus on the Cross. So do not let them go waste dear, because… for a follower of Christ, Suffering is a right, it is a blessing! (cf Philippians 1:29). God will exalt your Cross of your sufferings for sure! Without further questions she said, ‘Yes Sister’! After two days, she called me back and said, “Sister, I’m at peace. When I placed my difficulties at the Cross of Jesus, I experienced a kind of peace which is beyond my understanding and explanation”. I know my God is capable of turning these moments into blessing”.
The Cross: Disguise to Blessing
“The language of the Cross remains meaningless for those who are being lost. Yet for us who are being saved, it is the power of God” (1Cor 1:18). The Cross is the symbol of victory over evil and a sign of hope. Does your gazing at the Cross rejuvenate your drooping spirit? Christ humbled himself in His death, having been betrayed by Judas, forsaken by His disciples, scorned and rejected by the world, and tormented by His persecutors, condemned by Pilate, awaiting judgement at the judgement seat, falling thrice due to the weight of the heavy Cross, his feet and hands getting nailed, his side pierced with a lance, having also encountered the terrors of death and the powers of darkness, He laid down His life as an offering for sin, enduring the painful, shameful, and cursed death of the cross. Can we gaze upon this God and His Cross in our desperate moments? The Cross on which our Saviour was hung is ever overflowing with blessings. Let us embrace it with love uniting our daily crosses and receive the abundant blessing, which keeps flowing!
The Cross: A Fire of Love
On embracing the cross, Jesus allowed Himself to feel what we feel. The Cross is, forever for every follower of Jesus, an emblem of love. Our God carried the Cross lovingly for the redemption of sinful humanity, which lost the sense of sin. How much do we understand the power of this love and the power of the Cross on which our God of love willingly breathed His last! The Cross which was a symbol of disgrace became Holy as the Holy God was hung upon it. The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is celebrated every year on September 14, which commemorates the recovery of the Holy Cross, by St Helena; the same cross that was erected on Mount Calvary and preserved in Jerusalem. However, Chosroas, King of the Persians took away the Cross. Nevertheless, Emperor Heraclius recovered this most precious relic in 629.
The More the Cross, the More the Grace
From our womb to tomb we go through desperate moments, times of brokenness, rejection, humiliations and so on. Why? There is an answer God wants to give to us. The more the Cross, the more the grace! The more the brokenness, the more the love of God experienced! Many a times we encounter our God of surprises through our desperate moments. When God wants to bless us, when He wants to take control of us, when He wants to be with us forever, we all are made to go through moments of crisis, desperation, isolation, difficult situations and carry our daily crosses with love and passion. We shall not give up. We shall not quit. One needs to be patient and trust the journey.
The Voice of the Wooden Piece
If the wooden pieces which were felled to make a Cross to crucify Jesus, had a voice they would cry out at the Pharisees, Sadducees and learned people who stood watching the death of Jesus and mocked him, and lament thus: “Pilate has condemned Jesus to be crucified on the cross. Jesus, the One who knew no crime is being condemned as a criminal. The Holy One is being judged as unholy. When I, the wood was felled for a cross, I guessed criminals would be nailed on me as usual. But, what a paradox! They have put me on the shoulders of Jesus, the most innocent one. A heavy burden usually carried by many is now being put on the tender shoulders of a frail man, who went around Galilee doing nothing except good to all who came to him.
The man who came down from heaven to behold you in his bosom is being forcefully held to a heavy cross. He remained silent in the trial court and he embraced the cross most willingly. I was lifeless but became alive at the very instant He touched me. I was a sign of shame but have now become a symbol of grace. Sin entered the Garden of Eden through a tree but salvation and grace have come to humanity through the cross on Calvary. Now, I, the voiceless cross, ask you who have voice: you can avail of many wooden crosses to nail criminals but would you find me another Jesus who turned the symbol of shame to the symbol of grace?
Festal Blessings of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross – 2021
COVID 19 has inflicted much excruciating pain upon each of our lives as millions have succumbed to death owing to this tiny virus. We lost our loved ones and we could not even say goodbye to them as the authorities from going to their funerals blocked us for our safety. Our loved ones breathed their last in front of our eyes as hospitals had lack of beds and Oxygen supply. Many children have been abandoned and placed in orphanages. Can we together place these pains, burdens, aches, tears, and desperate moments at the Cross of our Saviour who came to take away our burdens and wipe away our tears? Mother Mary, the Mother of Hope never questioned her struggles. She only believed. St Joseph silently went through every struggle just placing his trust in God. Jesus who felt abandoned on the Cross, uttered finally “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit” and breathed His last. Can these words be ours too in life every time we experience humiliation, rejection, brokenness and sickness? Let us surrender our lives, our families, the entire suffering humanity and our future as well to our Redeemer on the Cross of life!
Festal blessings of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross 2021!
Sr Lini Sheeja MSC, served as the Chief-Editor for Prison Voice, a national monthly magazine from Prison Ministry India. Through her writings she makes the cry of the prisoners from the dark cells of prisons heard.