Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Feast of the Glorious Cross
I 1Co 0.18 to 24, Jn XIX 0.6 to 11 0.13 to 20 0.25 to 28 0.30 to 35.
Day Cross is a glorious opportunity for us to reflect on the place of the Cross in our faith ... because we're used to the Cross! Since Friday, the Cross is not only an instrument of torture: it became the sign of Christ's suffering and the sign of our liberation. "When I was lifted up, Jesus says, will draw all to myself," Jn 12:32.
The feast we celebrate its roots in the fourth century in Jerusalem where, after discovery, the Cross of Christ was given to the veneration of pilgrims each September 14. This prominent
Cross in faith and religious practice of Christians is not always easy to understand for those watching from outside. After all, is not it strange to choose as a symbol of our faith the instrument of torture on which our God has been put to death? And how can we describe as "glorious" the Cross, an instrument of torture and killing?
In the history of the Church, we note that in the early days following the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the Cross was not used as a symbol. In the representations, it is clear that Christians are beginning to use the Cross as the symbol from the moment it is no longer used as a method of execution.
We got used to the Cross we have in our churches, our homes, after our paths in our cemeteries ... I do not know how many crosses and crucifixes in France, but they are there as witnesses to the faith of our ancestors who installed them as witnesses of our faith ... But what does it mean to venerate the Cross? Cross How can it be proof of God's love ? How the instrument of torture of an innocent can it be glorious?
What Jesus says? "Just as the bronze serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. " Christ refers to this passage in the history of Israel that we have reviewed in the book of Numbers in the first reading. Facing the test of life, facing the danger represented by the snakes, the bronze serpent made by Moses wants to be a way for people to remember that draws life from the Lord and that by remaining faithful to God they will be saved.
Cross, that place of supreme abasement of the Son of God came into our world, he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and became man ... He came to teach men to open the way communion with God, his Father and our Father, he was dismissed by some, and leads to death, and death on the Cross.
But this death becomes the means of the Hi of the world by living her passion for love of us all by agreeing to carry the weight of the sin of humanity, by offering its Father as the victim holy and perfect, Christ liberates us from sin and eternal death. As the serpent to the Israelites in the wilderness, Christ on the Cross saves those who contemplate.
But while the bronze serpent procured physical healing, worship Christ provides spiritual healing, and opens the doors of eternal life.
The Cross of Christ has several meanings: it is a symbol of hatred and cruelty of which man is capable, but it is more a symbol of gentleness and forgiveness of Christ. By His Passion, Christ shows us how far God's love for us. It is on the Cross that Jesus fully reveals the extent of the Father's love for mankind finally on the Cross, Christ again speaks of love and tenderness.
And if Cross can be called "glorious" is not by I do not know what macabre attachment to suffering. No, if the Cross can be called "glorious" because it is where perfect love is manifested, because it is where God reveals himself as the most perfect.
ask the Lord for the strength to follow His Son on the Way of the Cross, the path of giving our lives, then we can love as Christ loved us. Amen.
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