The Ingredients of a Cross.
It was on a Friday morning they took me from my cell;
and I saw they had a carpenter to crucify as well.
You can blame it on Pilate,
You can blame it on the Jews,
You can blame it on the devil,
It is God that I accuse.
It is God they ought to crucify instead of you and me;
I said to the carpenter on the tree.
For Barabbas was a murderer and they let Barabbas go;
but you are being crucified for nothing here below.
It is God they ought to crucify instead of you and me;
For God is up in heaven and He does not do a things;
with a million angels watching and they never move a wing.
It is God they ought to crucify instead of you and me,
I said to the Carpenter hanging on the Tree;
…And it was God they crucified.
They hung Him on a tree and now the world of creation reacted while three types of men looked on. There were the soldiers who threw dice to possess His seamless garment; there were the mockers who cried “He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” Then there were the saints. They also come in three varieties. Mary, His Mother, represents Purity. Magdalene, out of whom He cast seven demons, re-presents the Penitent. Finally, there was John, the Loyal Priest. Each has a part to play in the drama of the Divine Love that sought to “re-bond” us to the Father. There is only one Son of God; there is only one act of re-bonding and therefore there is but one religion.
He came unto His own and His own received Him not but as many did He empowered to become the sons of God. Do you believe in the immense Love of God? John, the apostle and evangelist, tells us clearly God is Love and he who abides in love abides in God. Sure the world is futile; definitely the flesh is corrupt, and surely the devil is a damned deceiver. This is all to the purpose of testing our conviction to love in spite of all that comes against us. Don’t give in to despair but conquer despair by clinging to the Cross.
A Cross is formed by a vertical bar which represents life for all life is upright and erect. It is joined to the horizonal bar which represents death for all death is flat and prostrate. The cross represents suffering, sin, death but it is conquer by the Body of Jesus crucified and hence becomes a Crucifix. In this is our sign of redemption. The crucifix represents conquered suffering and that is sacrifice. All sacrifices unite in the sacrifice of our Lord. When we choose to do our will contrary to the will of God we form a cross but when we parallel our will to the divine will we form a yolk in which Jesus and I cooperate to sanctify my soul.
The Cross of Christ is the central act of Religion (The Father’s act of re-bonding our souls to the Divine Trinity) for in it “the Blood of the Lamb” is poured forth issuing a stream of cleansing reaching from Calvary to every city, state, and country. In that blood is our salvation for without the shedding of Jesus’ blood there could be no forgiveness of sin. This is why the world and the devil unite with sinful flesh to curse our Divine Lord. Why don’t they curse Buddha or Mohammed or Martin Luther? Simply because these souls were merely men. Jesus is the unique Son of God and to recognize this commands a response that many do not wish to accept.
Come to the Crucified One with all your troubles and His Cross will reconcile everything that causes you a problem. Cry out with the poet:
I slipped His fingers, I escaped His feet.
I ran and hid for Him I feared to meet.
One day I passed Him fettered on a tree;
He turned and looked and beckoned me.
Neither by speed nor strength could He prevail;
each hand and foot was pinioned by a nail.
For pity sake thought I,
I’ll set you free.
Nay, said He, take this Cross and follow Me;
Not hard nor grievous if you bear it tight.
And so did I follow Him Who could not move:
An Uncaught captive in the hands of Love.
May God grant you a Holy Week filled with Divine Grace and inspiration.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt
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