REFLECTIONS ON THE CRUCIFIED
Cardinal Maria Martini, S.J.
THE PASSION OF CHRIST CONTINUES …
Christ's Passion continues today in the
many people who are suffering: the unemployed, those who fear the events
which are happening around them, the anxious and the afflicted in prisons,
the victims of absurd and ruthless violence. The Passion continues for
the elderly who have been cast aside and are all alone - and how many suffer
this loneliness! The Passion continues in those who are awaiting justice
which is not forthcoming. How many people, for whatever reason, have had
to leave their homeland, and do not find welcome in their new lands - many
of whom are probably in our communities right now and have no sense of
"home"?
The mystery of the cross renews itself
in all those who feel themselves on the fringes of our society, such as
the handicapped, or those who are shown ways of escape which are, in reality,
solutions leading to death, such as addiction to drugs or a life of crime.
Those engaged in such activities over which they no longer seem to have
any control and who should be in places of rehabilitation or reconciliation
are oftentimes forced to remain in a climate of violence and death because
of their past. Finally, the Passion and its suffering continues on in those
who are despairing because they see their daily sacrifices and fidelity
to their responsibilities as being unappreciated and generally futile.
Reading the newspapers, it sometimes seems
impossible to us that man, so small, can create so much evil in the world.
And when we read the Passion, we see that the sentiments behind the accounts
are not much different.
The Lord's Passion teaches us not only
to recognise those who suffer in order that we might help them, but also
to speak out against the matrix of violence which seems to perpetuate itself
in our hearts and in human history.
An act of forgiveness, and prayer, similar
to the dying Christ’s, which others in our day and age seek to render alive
and effective, is the good news that helps us believe that the mystery
of Good Friday still looks forward, and always will, to the dawning of
an Easter morning. Christ does not want to have any other hands than our
own today in order to care for our brothers and sisters who are in need.
***
TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE
MYSTERY OF THE CROSS
Jesus' cross is a message. It is impossible
to understand the message of the Cross of Christ without having a spiritual
dimension.
The cross makes no sense for those who
trust only in material efficiency, technical improvements or social programs.
It makes no sense for those who do not want to make space for an interior
life, or think that all human problems can be resolved by stepping over
man's freedom and his heart.
The cross offers nothing - even more it
is an obstacle - to those who do not open themselves to its mystery; to
those who reject the Wisdom that comes from above; to those who do not
respect God’s actions which patiently unfold over time; to those who pretend
that God's love corresponds to man's superficial desires. The cross is
an obstacle to those who do not have the courage to be detached from self
so as to put themselves completely into God's hands. The cross is a pure,
silent symbol of pain for those who are not open to living in solidarity
with Christ and his brethren; to those who call only for quick, automatic
solutions to every problem, without lending their own contributions to
the cause; to those who see others' pain as an annoyance and not a call
towards closeness and fraternal communion.
If we lack deep spiritual values, our attempts
to understand the message of the cross is in vain. We see the cross in
our churches. We put crosses up in our homes. We wear them on our bodies,
but often without the courage to carry our cross together with Christ's.
***
THE CROSS OPENS THE WAY TO LIFE
The cross is ever before us. It wants to
speak to us, if only we contemplate it with love, drawn by the power of
the Spirit who is the gift of Christ crucified. If we look upon it with
awe and affection, the cross becomes an enticing, warm and all-consuming
fire: it gives us a challenge.
It asks us many things. The cross asks
us, our communities, our societies and our cultures to confirm that there
do exist paths from the cross to resolve human problems.
Jesus did not invent the cross. He, like
every person, found it on his journey. The newness in his message was to
plant the seed of love in our bearing of the Cross. The element of love
turned the way of the Cross into a way that leads to life. The Cross itself
became a message of love: a means of transformation. Our cross is also
the Cross of Jesus!
This cross first embraces each of us, and
entrusts us with a duty in our personal life, in our families, among our
friends and acquaintances - in sum, with whoever else's cross we encounter.
I think of the many broken families, the many illnesses which have not
been accepted, of hardened hearts which have become embittered, resenting
and brooding. How many crosses have been borne up and down in elevators
of our buildings. How many cross-bearers walk up and down our streets,
populate our cities!
There are crosses without a name, and often,
without a hope. There are crosses of doom which, at best, are merely tolerated.
Those who bear them live lives of quiet desperation and silent resignation.
From His Cross, Jesus invites each of us
today to put all these crosses, and not just own, into relationship with
his own. Jesus invites us to do as he did, plant the seed of love and hope
in the soil of each of the crosses we encounter.
May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always
in our hearts
