PRAYING “LA PAROLA DEL PADRE”
The Crucifix
Scripture reading (1Cor 1:18–25)
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Confortian response
Parola del Padre 52, January–March 1925
“The Crucifix is the great book upon which the Saints were formed and upon which we, too, must form ourselves. All the teachings contained in the Gospel are summed up in the Crucifix. It speaks to us with unequalled eloquence; with the eloquence of blood. It instills in us humility, purity, meekness, detachment from all earthly things, uniformity to the divine will and, above all, love for God and neighbor. By his crucifixion, Jesus has reconciled humanity to God and united all the scattered children of Adam in a sole bond of love. St. Alphonsus rightly wrote at the feet of a Crucifix: This is true love!”
Personal reflection
Bishop Conforti offers the Crucifix to us as “the great book upon which the Saints were formed and upon which we too must form ourselves”. By virtue of Baptism, the Christian soul has committed itself to imitate Christ in all his examples, including those of his passion and death. The teaching of St. Paul is clear: we have been baptized in the death of Christ, so we must remember that our former selves have been crucified with him (cf. Rm 6:1–14). “You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires” (Gal 5:24).
It is the binding law of love which demands imitation. Suffering is the sign and the measure of love.
The Founder continues: «The priestly ministry is a ministry of love because it is the continuation of Christ’s work. How, therefore, can the priest carry it out in a worthy manner? By taking his inspiration from the Crucifix. He is a teacher and the Crucifix shows that the work of redemption is a work of justice and love. He is an advocate who must represent the rights of God to men, and the Crucifix shows him how he must defend God’s honor. He is a physician and the Crucifix shows through Christ’s wounds the remedy for all kinds of spiritual infirmities.
The priest, therefore, must keep the crucifix on his study table because it is the wisdom of God and it sheds its light on all supernatural truths; he must keep it in his place of prayer, because the Crucified Christ is our mediator with the Father; he must keep it on his breast, because his heart must be an altar upon which Christ must reign” (G.M. Conforti, Notes for Spiritual Exercises, 1918).