By Leon Bent –
Adam and Eve, even while enjoying eternal bliss, somehow poured their egos into their relationship with God. In doing so, they lost the “original blessing” of Paradise.
This is how the Cross of Christ became Christianity’s genius and centrality. The Cross, like any genuine mystery, is always shrouded in silence. We approach a mystery with respectful listening, by cherishing paradox, and loving what we cannot reduce to understanding. The silence of the Cross is rich: filled with God and on fire with Jesus’ Presence. It is the prayer of quiet rising out of solitude, in which we seek to deepen our awareness of the Redeemer’s Presence in our lives. It is a humble, simple, lowly prayer, in which we experience our total dependence on the Lord, and an awareness that we are in Him. Wordless prayer or contemplation, reminds us that all reality is charged with the glory of God’s Presence.
In silence a Voice speaks to us, like it did to Moses from the “Burning Bush”. The way God came to him changed Moses’ life. For it set his silence on fire. The Cross is triumphant because we now have fire under our wings that will light us up, and power the faith-filled, Spirit-imbued believer heavenward into the welcoming, outstretched arms of Jesus, who opened his arms and died to embrace all Creation, from times immemorial, to the present day, till the Second Coming of Jesus. The Cross helps us catch glimpses of oneness of all things in God.
The Triumph of the Cross involves total emptiness and total fullness. We are offered the “whole Christ,” the “Cosmic Christ”. This is what St. Paul means when he speaks of “being in Christ.” The Cross gives us a dream; it is the way we respond that brings us fulfilment. Three attitudes are called for. We are to be genuinely caring persons: first, a willingness to enter into dialogue with people we do not agree with; second, a deep sense of compassion, which means the ability to enter into the sufferings of others, and, third, a deliberate, chosen stance of nonviolence in its diverse forms, in all our relationships.
The Triumph of the Cross makes the utter centrality of love sparklingly clear. For a true Christian loving is like breathing. Love is the very centre of our lives. John 3:15 asserts that “God so loved the world that he sent us His only begotten Son, that he might shed his blood to bring us salvation.” The Cross teaches genuine communication, true compassion, and unconditional love. It is the grammar of justice and mercy and syntax of mutual love. Truly, God is like a calm sea of mercy.
That God loves us is the wondrous truth we need to keep saying to ourselves, and to all who are willing to listen to us. The Cross is the only place strong enough to bear this divine secret: the secret of who God is. Yes! God is Love! I find support for this stance in the great Gospel of Luke 15: Its three parables (the caring Shepherd; the happy Woman who finds her Lost Coin; the Prodigal Son and his ever-loving father, carry this central message. One cannot forget St. Paul’s magnificent poem on love, as the heart of the Christian life, in 1 Corinthians 13.
Karl Barth expresses it strikingly when he asserts: God deals with us not with a natural therefore. But with a miraculous nevertheless: The sequence is not, we are unworthy, therefore God rejects us; but rather, we are unworthy, yet God loves us. This is an all-important lesson of the Cross.
The Triumph of the Cross helps us believe in the victory of the Resurrection, it is our call as Christians, to live in a world of suffering, poverty, terrorism and the continual threat of a war of mutual massive destruction – and still dare to hope!
Now this Gold Nugget! Thomas Merton goes still deeper: Our love is a need. Jesus’ is a gift. We need to see good in ourselves, our spouse, or in others to reach out in love. However, God loves us not because we are good or lovable, but because He is.
And this final flourish! We love in the flesh. Jesus loves in the Spirit! The Cross summons us to a lifetime of love burning in every moment!
The last word! This is the wisdom and spirituality of Good Friday! The Triumph of the Crosss.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.
Indeed, it is nice to hear someone talk about the Cross as a sign of great love and compassion. May I please ask the writer in what way, considering today’s concrete context of a political economy, cultural manipulation and social division, is this love to be concretized. I would appreciate if the writer share exactly how he is working to express and bring to realisation this sign of love and compassion.