Dear Friends,
The Sunday before the liturgical feast of the Exaltation of
the Holy Cross (Sept.14), Sixty Minutes
aired a segment on Christians in the Mosul area of Iraq. cross. The anguish of
Christians in these towns and villages is compounded by the replacement of the
toppled cross atop their churches by the black ISIS flag. The cross is the
rallying symbol for these suffering Christians, and they weep, lose heart when
its prominence is lost.
The cross is a symbol that is used and misused, treated
lightly or warped into what it is not. Some elements of society have adopted
the cross as part of their theatrical jewelry. Young rap stars are bedecked
with crosses as they sing of raping others.
The cross is woven into our life of faith like no other
symbol. We were baptized in water with the sign of the cross. We bless
ourselves with water and the sign of the cross when entering church. Parents
rooted in faith will often bless their children at bedtime with a prayer and
sign them with the cross. We begin and end our liturgies, celebrate each
sacrament with the sign of the cross. Throughout the historic visit of Pope
Francis last week, we saw him carry a crozier with a cross at its top at liturgies,
sign people with the cross, wear it openly on his white papal clothing.
For believers, the cross is a universal symbol, a triumph of
love over hate, a triumph of faith over cynicism, a triumph of embrace over
rejection. It is also a symbol of
contradiction. How could this instrument of execution used in the Roman Empire
as a penalty reserved for lower class criminals
be for us a symbol of redemption? Talk of the cross sometimes makes us
squirm. It makes us think of suffering and death, and these are realities
people try to avoid. Our age, in particular, wants no part of pain and
suffering. We don’t want to experience it and we don’t want to see it. Here in the USA, at our southern border and
across Europe this summer, suffering people are being turned away or treated
harshly. Yet, ironically, it is only through suffering that we, individually
and together, come to fullness. We make life decisions through our experiences
of suffering. To put it another way, through suffering, the meaning of life
becomes clear to us. We become refined through suffering. God is committed to us in the goodness of our
lives, laced as it is with loss, bewilderment emptiness, pain and suffering of
all sorts.
The cross reminds us that God’s love does not protect us from all suffering. Rather, God’s love
is a shelter in all suffering. With
Jesus who went before us to the cross and His resurrection, we are encouraged
to go on. Pope Francis last week, urged us to grow in depth of living our
faith. Let’s let the cross be a symbol of
our willingness to do so.
Do you have a cross hanging prominently somewhere in your
home? That used to be the case in many if not all Christian homes. If you hang a cross in your home, it will be
a reminder to all who live in this house that faith that supports your life and
a non-verbal way of proclaiming to all who enter that believers live here. Why
not have a household meeting and decide whether you should do this?
~Sister Joan Sobala
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