By Fr Joshan Rodrigues –
Looked at from a purely secular and historical perspective, the Cross would not be considered an object to be exalted or something to be showcased as a trophy of triumph. It was in fact, a sign of great tragedy and an instrument of brutal torture, inflicted to quell rebellion, silence critics and enforce power. In this case, it became bound to a man who became quite popular among the masses for his message of love and hope that envisioned a Kingdom centred on God, where every human being would realise his/her full potential as a child of God. But for this message, he was also fiercely hated by others who saw him as a threat to the established order of the day.
However, having been raised up on this device of death, Christ transformed it into a remedy for redemption. Seen from this divine perspective, we see suffering being used to eliminate suffering forever; we see death being used to vanquish death. The enemy’s gambit was turned against him, and victory was achieved where others saw despair. It is for this reason that Christians see the Cross as a symbol of life, triumph and salvation, which is why we wear it proudly on our sleeve as our boast. The Cross is an exalted throne on which sits the Lord of Heaven and Earth, whom we approach humbly and are rewarded with glory.
This symbol par excellence of the Love that overcomes hatred and violence and generates immortal life is much needed in today’s world, as humanity grapples more and more with inexplicable suffering and searches for answers. Scientists are rushing against time to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, but the antidote to greed, despair, hatred and meaninglessness was tried and tested two millennia ago on the slopes of Calvary.
While terms such as exaltation and glorification may invoke selfish connotations in secular minds, the Cross points just the opposite way – to humility and a self-emptying ‘kenosis’. The beautiful hymn of humility that we read in the second chapter of Philippians on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is pregnant with terms (obedience, humility, emptying, enslavement) that invite us to look deep within ourselves. On one note, this liturgical feast exhorts us to rip out the malaise within us in order to achieve lasting peace and love for those around us.
Because as we more ardently aspire to change the world for the better, the less we insist on reforming ourselves. The more we deign to improve the world with our noble aims, we often neglect our own interior growth. In a strange way, abstraction excuses us from making those very real and tangible improvements that we need to make in ourselves and our relationships. Here I am reminded of that wonderful quote that is attributed to the Saint of the gutters, St Teresa of Kolkata, whose memorial we just celebrated a week ago. Apparently, she never said these words, but she may have just anyways: “if you want to bring peace to the whole world, go home and love your family.”
At first glance, these words may seem sweet and soothing, but in reality they cloak a slightly painful pinch to the conscience. It is almost as if what is being said is, “While it is good to desire higher standards from your neighbour, perhaps it would be better to begin with oneself.” In Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Fr Zosima recalls the frank honesty of an elderly physician: ‘“I love mankind,” he said, “but I am amazed at myself: the more I love mankind in general, the less I love people in particular, that is, as individuals…I would really have gone to the cross for people if it were somehow suddenly necessary, and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone even for two days.”
As I look up at the Cross lovingly, I am reminded that Christ first and foremost took on ‘my’ sin on himself. There is no greater cause of suffering than our own sins that we struggle with on a daily basis. Jesus invites us to gaze on the Cross; we are to look at Him in his misery and suffering, and in that gaze, we are called to see victory with faith. We are told that God brings good out of all things, even our suffering. But there is no social reform without personal reform. We transform the world first by focusing on our own transformation. Before we love the world, we need to begin by loving our spouse, our children and the next door neighbour.
Then, the Holy Cross becomes – nay, has already become – a Remedy for ‘our’ Redemption.
Fr Joshan Rodrigues is the Managing Editor of The Examiner, Catholic Newsweekly of the Archdiocese of Bombay. He is an alumnus of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome in Institutional and Social Communications. He has done brief stints with the DeSales Media Group in Brooklyn, New York and Communications Office of the Episcopal Conference of England and Wales, London. He frequently blogs on faith and culture in ‘Musings in Catholic Land’