The Cross

The earth breathes and sighs, calling my name and I shift my gaze from the man on the Cross to the immediacy of life. When the murmurings of my planet interrupt contemplation, Holy Week can slip and merge into another ordinary week. It can remain a distant story.

But God on the Cross beckons us to move from sentimentality to really seeing the Cross. So often, we are absent, distracted and inattentive. Being present to Christ, where we allow ourselves to hold in our arms the broken, torn and disfigured Jesus, we are led by God into something deeper about the mystery of God’s love. “Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing..” Dostoevsky. There is nothing neutral about the crucifixion – it is a place of extremes where God altered the boundaries of what it means to love. The crucifixion of Jesus was a display of unhindered grace where the Father still says, “Come, come. Come and see, how much We love you!”

Jesus, the Lamb of God did not confront our murky stained hearts from afar but took on every damnation meant for us with open hands. Stripped of His clothes so that we could be dressed, crucified so that we could live, He left the Garden so that we could one day dine with the Father.

To sit at the foot of the Cross is to allow the power of the Cross to change us where Jesus becomes our worship, our prayer, our song and our certainty. The mysteries of the Cross keep on unfolding when we choose to stay.

Luke23:33-38: When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the Jews.