Fear the cross no more

WE have to learn to lose any fear of the cross. That

instinct of ours to be afraid and to flee from the cross has to be

reversed, and made into an instinct of love for the cross.

            This may take time and effort, this may require a lot of

thinking and discipline, this may involve some drastic and even

painful adjustments in our understanding of things, but it is all

worthwhile to do so.

            When we lose the fear of the cross and develop the love

for it instead we would have the proper light to guide us in our life

here on earth. Not only that, we can have the invincible peace and joy

that is proper to us as persons and as children of God.

            Opus Dei founder, St. Josemaria Escriva, often repeated

the motto, “Lux in cruce, gaudium in cruce, requies in cruce,” (light

in the cross, joy in the cross, peace in the cross), to remind himself

and everybody else that it is in the cross of Christ where we have the

path and the instrument of our human salvation.

            Again it’s good to be theological in our understanding of

the cross because the mere human attitude toward the cross can never

fathom the crucial and indispensable significance the cross of Christ

possesses.

            Christ’s cross, which Christ himself told us to carry

(cfr. Mt 16,24), converts that tree of death that led to the downfall

of our pristine humanity in Adam and Eve into a tree of life that

brings us back again to God, our Father and Creator.

            It is this cross that assumes all the sins of men and

destroys them. It is this cross that reopens the gates of heaven to us

after it was closed due to our sins. We need to engrave these

theological truths of the cross so we can be guided properly.

            In other words, this cross enables us to handle the worst

condition that can happen to us in this life, and to convert that

condition into a means of our salvation. Thus, whenever we have the

cross, in whatever concrete form it comes—whether physical, moral or

spiritual—we have to bear it with Christ always. It would then become

Christ’s cross, and not just any cross, and as such it is a redemptive

cross.

            It would also be a cross that is not simply ours, borne

only by our own selves. It becomes the cross of Christ who has assumed

all the sinfulness of men without committing sin. (cfr. 2 Cor 5,21)

Somehow it is a cross that is not as heavy as when it is simply ours,

carrying it without Christ carrying it for and with us.

            We obviously have to adapt our attitude, thinking and

reactions towards the cross according to what our faith teaches us. We

have to go theological in this, not merely physical, emotional or

mental. Thus, we have to be ready to follow what Christ told us

whenever we encounter crosses in our life.

            Like, we have to learn to love our enemies, to pray for

them. We have to offer the other cheek when we are slapped in one

cheek. We have to learn to be charitable and magnanimous when we are

misunderstood, mistreated, insulted, offended. We have to learn to be

patient and humble when humiliated. We have to regard others as better

than us, always concerned about their interest rather than focusing

simply on ours.

            There are many more forms of how to bear our cross the way

Christ bore his, and thus make our cross also the cross of Christ, a

cross that is redemptive and worthy of being loved and exalted.

            We should not only lose fear of the cross, but rather love

it, and actively look for it, since that is the only way to our

salvation, given our wounded and sinful condition.