O Crux Ave Spes Unica
14 September 2022, Wednesday of the 24th Week in the Ordinary Time
Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
Jn 3: 13-17
“O crux ave spes unica!” (Hail, holy cross, our only hope!) This is a devotional expression which many Christians, as individuals and as institutions, have taken as their motto. Among them is St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein. Why do we Christians have a different understanding on the cross which for many and for many centuries, even until now, is regarded as a symbol of shame, of weakness and of defeat? Allow me to share with you three points for reflection.
First, real love transforms. While most of us hide and deny our vulnerability, the cross of Jesus makes us confront who we are. While most of us shun away from suffering, the cross of Jesus makes us see that life, even in trauma and in pain, can be transformed. Today’s Gospel reading leads us to the very heart of our faith when our heads cannot understand the mystery of suffering and when our hands are paralyzed by life’s miseries and pain. The cross of Jesus reveals not only the event of our salvation but God’s mind and heart: “For God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Second, real love saves. The cross of Jesus is for us a symbol of salvation because it reveals the depth and width, the height and the length of God’s love. We come to confession and we realize that we repeat the same sins. But God stretches Himself, goes beyond Himself and allows Himself to be immolated, all because of love for us. God never hates us even if we’re obstinate sinners. God never takes revenge even if we deliberately insist on our arrogance and ambitions. We are supposed to be hanging on the cross. But God, in Jesus, takes our place, all because of love. Real love can be painful. But real love conquers pain.
Third, real love gives hope. In the first reading, God instructed Moses to mount on a pole the bronze serpent. Anyone who would look on it, would be healed from their sin of unbelief. In the 2nd Reading, St Paul proclaims that Jesus, though emptied Himself, is glorified by God. The kenotic hymn tells us that we who are immersed in Christ will live like Him in His passion, death and resurrection. When we love, we abandon our own self-interest for the good of the other. Persons who have the capacity to empty themselves, to give without something in return and to heal the wounds of division, are people who manifest hope. Why? God is their reward in time and in eternity.
The crucifix is a sacramental that is being used to drive away evil spirits. We are all marked by the cross on the day of our baptism. We mark ourselves the sign of the cross when we pray. But how come that there is still much evil in the world? Maybe, the Lord is calling us to shift from doing what is external to being and becoming persons with depth and interiority. Prior to vv. 6-11 of today’s 2nd reading, St Paul has this intro verse that says, “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus”. Christ crucified is not only an image to look upon and an accessory to wear but we take Jesus’ mind and heart, intellect, memory and will. In allowing the crucified Jesus to shape our heads, our hearts and our hands to be like Him, our lives as Paschal Mystery proclaim God’s real love that transforms, that saves and that gives hope.
“O crux ave spes unica!” (Hail, holy cross, our only hope!) Amen.
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