“For us men and our salvation Jesus was crucified, suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again.”
This synthesis paper has allowed us to focus on the Paschal Cross because we found it meaningful and significant in our lives as Jesus’ disciple, religious, and Missionary. Meditating on the paschal mystery, one must be challenged to face the reality of the cross which comprises suffering and death. This experience echoes the reaction of Peter after Jesus foretold his death and resurrection: “…This must never happen to you…” (see Mt. 16:22).
If by embracing his cross Jesus expressed his greatest act of love, we believe that our relationship with Him as disciples can express our greatest love only if we share in his entire saving experience. Is it true that only “few love the cross of Jesus”? From the Imitation of Christ, we read that: “Jesus has many lovers of his heavenly kingdom these days, but few of them carry his cross… Many admire his miracles, but few pursue the shame of the cross….”[1] Saint Guido Maria Conforti reminds us of the significance of the Cross as the great book that formed the Saints, and thus it must be the same for us too. “All the teachings contained in the Holy Gospel are summed up in the Crucifix...It inculcates us with humility, purity, meekness, detachment from all earthly things, uniformity to the divine will, and, above all, love for God and the brothers...”[2]
Briefly, lets us now present the integration of the Paschal cross in the main themes of both fundamental and systematic theology as follows:
- The paschal cross as a sign of Revelation
The cross reveals a loving and merciful God in his plan of salvation. It is the blood flowing from the wounds of Christ that makes the infinite love of God for us visible.[3] Indeed, “The Church proclaims the cross of Christ as the sign of God's all-embracing love and as the fountain from which every grace flows.”[4]
Jesus, in His resurrection, experienced in a radical way mercy shown to Himself, the love of the Father which is more powerful than death.[5]
- The Paschal Cross as a graced access to the life of the Triune God
The sacred scriptures and tradition hold that because of sin, we were separated from God and unable to repair the relationship ourselves. However, God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of Jesus’ cross (Col 1:20).
Because “Grace is our participation in the very life of the Triune God”[6], we consider the saving sacrifice on the cross as “God’s personal presence, a liberating action, and loving relationship with us through the Risen Christ in the Spirit.”[7]
- The Mystery of the Cross for the Transmission of Revelation and Faith
“The Paschal mystery stands at the center of the Good News that the apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world.”[8]
Paul the Apostle for instance insisted that his understanding of the Gospel is summarized in “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). Catherine of Sienna likewise focuses her writings on the love of God for humankind manifested in Christ crucified,” and so she discusses the great truths of the Christian faith: the Trinity, creation, redemption, the Church, grace, and life after death.[9]
- Mary as the model of participation in the mystery of the cross
Mary was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of Christ’s redemptive suffering[10]. In this respect, the sword of sorrow predicted for her announces Christ’s perfect and unique oblation on the cross that will impart the salvation God had “prepared in the presence of all peoples”[11]. At the foot of the cross, Christ brought us to Mary because he did not want us to journey without a mother. We believe that Mary, who brought Jesus into the world with great faith, also accompanies “the rest of her offspring, those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.”[12]
- Discipleship as a way of participation in Jesus’ cross
Partaking on Jesus’ cross is the appropriate way of becoming active members of the Church in the world today. Pope Francis warns against the temptation to want a purely spiritual Christ, without flesh and without the cross. He proposes the “realism of the Gospel”[13] for us to be moved by Jesus’ example—whose sacrifice on the cross is nothing else than the culmination of the way he lived his entire life. We are called to enter fully into the fabric of society, “sharing the lives of all, listening to their concerns, helping them materially and spiritually in their needs, rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep; arm in arm with others, we are committed to building a new world.”[14]
- Liturgy as the perpetuation of the saving mystery of the cross in the life of the Church
It is by the command of Christ himself that the Church unceasingly celebrates the Eucharist, finding in it the “fountain of life and holiness”, the efficacious sign of grace and reconciliation with God, and the pledge of eternal life.[15] In that regard, the sacrifice of the Mass enhances the uniqueness of Christ’s sacrifice for it perpetuates its memory and applies its power[16].
Conclusion
We are inclined to believe that the saving cross of Jesus Christ is not just a past event that has nothing to do with our reality today. What happened on Jesus’ Cross is our experience of God’s saving presence in our lives. It is a process from the fatalism of suffering and death to the hope of Life in Jesus.
Are we ready to avoid a paradoxical soteriology based on ‘Jesus without cross’ or a ‘cross without Jesus’? “The cross is like a touch of Eternal Love upon the most painful wounds of man’s earthly existence.”[17]
May through our participation in Jesus' saving mystery of the Cross we express the ratification of our redeemed condition in faith, hope, and love.
[1] William C. Creasy, The Imitation of Christ-Thomas À Kempis, A timeless Classic for Contemporary Readers. (Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA, 1989), p. 77
[2] Xaverian Missionaries, Pagine Confortiane, (Rome, Revised Edition 2008) pp. 346-347
[3] Mary Ann Fatula, O.P., Catherine of Siena’s Way. revised ed. The Way of the Christian Mystics 4 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1990), 108.
[4] Nostra Aetate, no. 4
[5] Dives in Misericordia, no. 8
[6] CCC, no. 1997
[7] CFC, no. 1528
[8] CCC, no. 571
[9] Mary O’Driscoll, “Introduction,” Catherine of Siena: Passion for the Truth, Compassion for Humanity - selected spiritual writings (New York: New City Press, 1993) p. 15
[10] Cf. CCC, no. 618
[11] CCC, no. 529
[12] Evangelii Gaudium, no. 285
[13] Evangelii Gaudium, no. 88
[14] Evangelii Gaudium, no. 269
[15] Redemptor Hominis, no. 7
[16] J. Neuner, S.J. –J. Dupuis, S.J., The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, Ed. by Jacques Dupuis, 7th Revised and enlarged Edition. 2001, Theological publication in India, p. 605.
[17] Dives in Misericordia, no. 8
