An outstretched hand
Lent is approaching, and the devotional practice at its heart is the Stations of the Cross.
A path that raises no small number of questions, first and foremost: why does Jesus accept taking on the cross? He knows he was condemned though innocent; he knows that false testimony was given against him. So… why?
A “why” that runs through all the illnesses, bereavements, wounds, and sufferings that befall us through no fault of our own. A “why” that can lead to rebellion, to despair…
And yet, in the deepest darkness, the light of the One who reaches out to us and comes to our aid can appear. Jesus can reach out that hand because he himself has experienced pain. The Son accepted taking on the cross to be with us in our daily calvaries; he passed through the mystery of death, coming to feel “abandoned” by the Father, so that none of the Father’s children could ever again feel alone and abandoned on the path of suffering.
Christianity is not a “factory” of pain; Jesus does not freely embrace the cross because he likes suffering, but accepts taking on that burden to be with us always: in joy and in pain. To teach us to carry the cross without being destroyed by it.
Today or tomorrow?
“If it were up to us, we would never die, never grow old, never have a problem; we would always wait for ‘tomorrow’ to convert.
The first pagans in Rome during the early centuries were called “cras” by Christians, a Latin word meaning “tomorrow”: tomorrow I’ll confess, tomorrow I’ll go to church, tomorrow I’ll start living the Gospel, tomorrow… When is the best time to lose the dearest affection in your life? Surely tomorrow; but when that “tomorrow” comes, when that cross arrives, who will show you the way, who will give you viaticum, who will accompany you in that pain?
When faced with the cross, Jesus does not think ill of the Father; he does not say, “I certainly did not deserve this,” but says, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me!” (Mt 26:39). Suffering and the cross are frightening, and Jesus too experiences fear, but he does not rebel: he fully accepts the cross, with trust and with a son’s heart, because he knows that his Father is good, believes that he will provide and free him from the anguish of death” (Father Pierangelo Pedretti, Way of the Cross. The Most Precious Gift, Shalom Publishing, code 8076).
What is my cross?
Faced with Jesus carrying his cross, let us ask him to help us understand what ours is. Indeed, it may happen that we have buried it so deeply within ourselves that we do not even know what it is. And, once we have given it a name, “we will ask Jesus for the strength to embrace it without allowing it to scandalize us. And then, only then, will we experience an immense tenderness, the sweetness of the Holy Spirit; the cross will shine forth, and we will discover that God truly is the Father who does not abandon his children.
When a hardship, suffering, pain, loss, or problem comes into our lives, we have an opportunity to make ourselves a little smaller, a little humbler, and to discover that true life is something else, that life is Jesus. Seen in this light, the cross that each of us bears is for life, never for death, just as it was for Jesus, our Teacher” (Father Pierangelo Pedretti, Way of the Cross. The Most Precious Gift, Shalom Publishing, code 8076).
