The months of September and October are some of my favorite months when it comes to feast days in the Church. September 14 is personally one of my favorite feasts, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
As a Lay Franciscan, it is St. Francis' love for the Crucified One that drew me as a young college student into the depths of Franciscan Spirituality and Franciscan Prayer. Francis of Assisi is known for so many things: his love of creation, his love of and for nature; embracing of the leper, union with the poor and his desire that all men and women of good will come to know this Incarnate Christ, found in the person of Jesus. Yet it was the cross that changes Francis' life. It was the cross he sought to embrace. It was the cross that Francis became through the Holy Stigmata - the wounds of Crh
Franciscan spirituality reveals that the meaning of the cross is significant dare I say essential for our personal relationship with the Most High God. St. Bonaventure tells us:
"Let your love lead your steps to Jesus wounded, to Jesus crowned with thorns, to Jesus fastened upon the upon the gibbet of the cross. Not only see in His hands the print of the nails, not only put your finger into the place of the nails, not only put your hand into His side, but enter with your whole being through the door of His side and into Jesus' heart itself."
My pastor spoke about the cross in a homily and said, " The cross is an
instrument of death, not an instrument of inconvenience, or a
delightful design for a piece of jewelry." When he said that, I didn't
hear anything else that came after the statement. For the Christian is
called to death. A way of living that puts to death jealousy, lust,
selfishness, ambition and greed for the things of this world. Upon
reflection, I have yet begun to die. I so want to hold on to my "stuff",
as though it will somehow bring me long lasting satisfaction.
In his search to find the deeper meaning of God in a world of violence and suffering, theologian Jurgen Moltmann pondered the mystery of the cross as the mystery of God. he wrote:
"When the crucified Jesus is called the image of the invisible God, the meaning is that this is God, and God is like this. God is not greater than he is in this humiliation. God is not more glorious than he is in this self-surrender. God is not more powerful than he is in this helplessness. God not more divine than he is in this humanity. The nucleus of everything that Christian theology says about 'God' is to be found in the Christ event."
Clare of Assisi had a clear focus on the crucified Christ as the spouse of transforming love. Only in union with this spouse, she professed, can we really become transformed in the love of God and radiate the beauty of God's image in our lives. St. Clare proclaims in her letter to Agnes: "If you suffer with HIm, you will reign with Him. If you weep with Him, you shall rejoice with Him. If you die with Him on the cross of trubulation, you shall possess heavenly mansions in the splendor of the saints and, in the book of life, your name shall be called glorious among people."
I am forever grateful for the cross. For as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, the cross, "... is the power and wisdom of God" (v.14). I pray that all those seeking to bring peace and justice to this broken world will seek it through eyes of the cross' power: will contemplate it in the teaching of the cross' wisdom.
"May I never boast of anything, but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." ( Galatians 6:14)
