Saturday, March 18, 2017

Parable and Conscience Meditation March 18

Glorious Cross  March 18

This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world (Veneration of the Cross, Good Friday).

God who loves me takes me by the hand and leads me into the Paschal Mystery.  God’s first paternal gift is the Cross, which brings to Resurrection.  God shows that there is no other way except to attach myself always to the wood in order to come to glory.  Even after being transformed by the love of God in Christ, I continue to carry the treasure in an earthen vessel.  This treasure of salvation is always put to the test.  As St. Paul says (2Co 4: 8-10), I am burdened under the weight of my own and other’s sins, but not crushed; held back by human limitation, but not despairing; persecuted in a world of values opposed to the Gospel, but not abandoned; laid low because of human and community failures, but not done in.  It is the experience of the wood that manifests life in glory.  Behold the wood of the Cross:  the human is made great, the unworthy honorable, the crude polished and the rough smooth.  Behold the salvation brought to the world:  the power of evil is destroyed, the Spirit of God penetrates the heart of the world and transforms it, the rebirth of humanity sprouts and grows.  The wood once brought, and now brings, glory.  This message encourages in difficulty and gives strength.  It testifies that God really has turned the tables on evil.

A tree in bloom is visited by the insects.  (Toucouleur)

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